Blought #26: Why Did Trump Meet With Black Pastors Anyway?

Trump (Center) accompanied by Dr. Darrell Scott (right) Courtesy of: USAToday.com

 A few days ago Donald Trump shook up the media and news world when he announced that he had gained the support of 100 Black pastors and religious leaders from all over the country. Not long after that the facts became clear. Only about 50 or so pastors showed up to his meeting at Trump Towers with several of them signing endorsement cards for Trump‘s campaign.

What caught my attention was the fact that two pastors from Ohio were in attendance and here’s why. Ohio is usually a battleground state. Dividing the black vote has become a key strategy for the right wing with gerrymandering. Dr. Darrell Scott of New Spirit Revival Center Ministries Inc. based in Cleveland Heights, Oh was vocal in his support of Trump’s campaign.

He even made several phone calls to Senior Pastor Corletta J. Vaughn of Holy Ghost Cathedral in Detroit to get her on board. Pastor Vaughn declined stating that she felt “uncomfortable” with the meeting at Trump Towers. She said she would be open to meeting with Trump but on her own terms probably in her church so that the presidential candidate can hear her community’s concerns.

Jamal Bryant of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore tweeted "Prostitutes for Trump...don't let black pulpit become a pole". Pastor Scott responded with "If Trump called Black Preachers ‘Prostitutes on a Pole’, the entire nation would be in an uproar! #BlackPreachersMatter" and "For respectable Preachers to be called ‘Prostitutes on a pole’ is very insulting, demeaning, and misogynistic, to say the least." The divide and conquer rule definitely applies here.

Promotional flier for Trump's meeting

Bishop Victor Couzens of Forrest Park, Ohio near Cincinnati also attended the event. He voiced his concern for an apology towards his Black Lives Matter comments and incident at his rally where protester and activist Mercutio Southall was attacked and beaten. Trump stood by his earlier comments and said that he would not issue an apology.

Personally I don’t think Trump owes him an apology. Would you show up to a KKK meeting in a Black Panther uniform? I didn’t think so. Why go to a rival hood and cause disruption? It was sad that he was assaulted but Mr. Southall could have made better judgment.

On Tuesday Roland Martin host of  TV One’s News One Now spoke to Steve Parson PhD and former pastor of the Richmond Christian Center in Richmond, VA. Parson who is a supporter of Trump was on the show to discuss Trump’s plan for the black community. He talked in circles about the tax code until Martin hit him with the facts.

Martin, who recalled on his time as a city hall and county government reporter brought up the statistics that in 2008 black owned small businesses received 8.2% of all small business loans. By 2013 that number had dropped to 1.8% due to the foreclosure crisis that wiped out  53% of black wealth. Martin simply stated “no home, no loan, no collateral” as a cardinal rule of small business loans. Parson was never able to give Martin any straight answers on how a real estate mogul (Trump) couldn’t answer those questions himself.

Martin and Parson squaring off Courtesy of: RolandMartinReports.com

The main point to be taken away isn’t the fact that Trump’s camp spun a story about 100 black pastors meeting with him. It’s the fact that the Black Churches are not the go to leaders of the black community. Black millennials like most millennials don’t cling to faith and religion. Most of our parents are the same way, why do you think we feel the way that we feel?

It reminds me of the South Park episode “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” where Stan’s dad Randy Marsh went onto the popular game show wheel of fortune. The clue was “People who complain too much.” The spots were N_GGERS. Randy hesitantly shouted “Niggers!” when the answer was actually “Naggers”.

Randy then had to go apologize to Reverend Jesse Jackson. Stan attempted to make peace with his friend and only black kid in School Token who responded with “Jesse Jackson isn’t the emperor of black people.” The same can be said about most religious leaders.

Let’s be honest, black pastors are always caught up in scandal about stealing money from the church. Steve Parson ran his ministry into bankruptcy and lost two luxury cars that he and his son leased with the church’s money. Trump is playing this game as smart as he can. With Rubio rising and Carson fading away it’s getting closer to do or die time for Trump.

Sources:
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/01/457930597/black-pastor-calls-trump-meeting-a-get-played-moment

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/22/politics/donald-trump-black-lives-matter-protester-confrontation/

http://richmondfreepress.com/news/2015/feb/26/pastor-gets-boot/

Blought #24: The Division of Support for Paris

The terrorist attacks in Paris were unspeakable crimes against humanity. A total of 130 people lost their lives while hundreds more were injured making it the deadliest attack on France since WWII. The thing that got under my skin was the division of support for Paris. You had the people who showed support for Paris. There were the people who claimed no media outlets covered the attacks in Africa (You were probably more focused on America’s racial tensions more than Boko Haram kidnapping and killing Nigerian students.)

then there were the ones who had conspiracy theories about America helping ISIS expressing how “misinformed” Americans were or how changing your profile picture does nothing to help those effected. Think about a time your family member died. While your friend can’t bring that family member back, just saying “I’m sorry for your loss” can make you feel a lot better.


I wanted to get upset with many of my Facebook and Instagram friends, but there’s really no use in arguing over the internet. Then I realized something, the majority of Americans are severely misinformed about the World Human Rights Crisis that we are currently facing. The Middle East has been a hot bed of conflict for AGES. We’re taking biblical times son!

Support Paris and watch the world burn?

My mom once told me “the Bible says the Middle East will always be in some shit.” If history serves me right I think my mom had a point. From Greeks and Persians during the Greco-Persian Wars to the Catholics and Muslims during the crusades. The Middle East was even one of the main focal points of the Cold War. America wanted to keep communism out of the Middle East and the Soviets wanted to spread communism throughout the Middle East.

In later decades as America’s economy boomed we began to import most of our oil from over there as Russia went poor and lost pretty much all of their influence in the region. One of the main reasons Islamic terrorist cells hates America is because of our influence on their culture during the Cold War in addition to us raping them for oil.

These sentiments were the basis for both the CIA and World Trade Center attacks of 1993 and the September 11 attacks eight years later which became the deadliest terrorist attack in American history.

Despite how you feel about how Bush and Cheney (the real mastermind behind those eight years of fuckery) ran the country, going into the Middle East was a faint bright spot. Saddam should have been killed in the 90’s when he killed thousands of Kurdish people in separate genocidal acts during the late 1980’s in the Anfal genocide and the Halabja chemical attack. Osama Bin Laden could have been killed sooner as well but dead is dead right?


With no leader of Al-Quaeda and Iraq in a complete abysmal state after Obama pulled our troops out, ISIS had the perfect ingredients to begin their ascent to power. ISIS as we all should know is an Islamic Extremist Fundamentalist group formed in the late 90’s who wants to be recognized as the official state of Iraq. They claim to be the leaders of all Muslims in the world and they especially hate Shia Muslims, Alawites, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syrian and Armenian Christians, Yazidis, Druze, Shabaks and Mandeans. All ethnic groups native to the Middle East.

ISIS were the main culprits of the Paris attacks. ISIS has also participated in the Syrian Civil War, Iraq War (2003–2011), Iraqi insurgency, Iraq War (2014–present), Second Libyan Civil War, Boko Haram insurgency in Africa, War in North-West Pakistan, War in Afghanistan and the Yemeni Civil War.

The point wasn’t to shine light on Paris more than other countries. ISIS is a part of a world wide terrorist network claiming war on humanity. The time couldn’t have been better for ISIS. With so many country’s recovering from revolutions and over thrown dictators, it was easy for ISIS to take the reigns as the top dog in the world of terrorism.

I explicitly remember when Arab Spring became a huge world news topic. As a journalism major that was all we talked and read about during the 2011 Spring semester. It all started in December of 2010 when a Tunisian man set himself on fire after claiming that he had been bullied by local officials while selling produce to help support his family.

Not long after protests began happening all over the Arab world including Oman, Yemen, Egypt, Syria and Morocco, Tunisia's government was overthrown in early January of 2011 which led to Egypt's Tajir Square Protests a little over a week later. By March of that year Syria had also begun nation wide protests.

Arab Spring protest in Bahrain calling for Democracy

By 2012 Syria was in a civil war with ISIS acting as a main belligerent. Egypt wouldn’t be able to overthrow their government until the summer of 2013. Now the plot thickens. During these conflicts, many of which became full blown wars, displaced citizens of the Middle East and Africa sought asylum in the European Union or EU.

Hop on a rickety boat and ride across the Mediterranean where Greece, Italy and Spain are all waiting for you to start a new life in a developed European country. That is if the boat you and hundreds of others are riding on doesn’t capsize taking you all down with it. During this time ISIS operatives pretended to be immigrants escaping their home countries when what they were really doing was planning to attack France and Belgium.

This is bigger than what my social media friends made it out to be. This is bigger than the media. This is a new world conflict that has to be resolved. We aren’t fighting a country but a network. A network of between a quarter to a half million strong and growing everyday. A network with an ideology that we can’t fight or get rid of. So put you personal, pessimistic “woke” views behind you and realize what this world is facing.

Blought #23: What I Learned About Natural Hair

What does your hair mean to you? Is it a bunch of naps and tangles of frizz that you put up with? Or is it something that you enjoy maintaining and keeping up? There was a point in time where I got a haircut every two weeks to make sure my waves kept spinning. But it was just hair. Nothing more, and nothing less in my eyes.

A few weeks ago I was invited to a Natural Hair Forum at the Warrensville Heights branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library. The event was hosted by J’ Twasha Kelley, organizer and founder of the Nappi Gyrls Hair Forum. She opened the event by sharing her personal journey to becoming natural. Going natural made her feel "liberated". "I was able to accept who I am" she said. "It was when life first started for me."

Cleveland area Zumba instructor and owner of Fitthickbreee, Brittany Jenkins encouraged the women to drink plenty of water and to start thinking about adopting a healthy diet. She discussed the importance of taking care of your body which will in turn benefit your hair’s health.


"How many of you are worried about sweating out your hair while at the gym" she asked as most of the women raised their hands. Brittany's advice was to wear protective styles like box braids. The absence of having chemicals in your hair makes upkeep easier while living an active and healthy lifestyle.

It was interesting to hear these women share their tips and stories about having natural hair. After Brittany finished her presentation local hairstylist Donnella Jefferson took to the podium for her Q&A session. Many of the women asked questions about styles, techniques and their hair category which I never knew existed. There really are categories for women's hair types and textures.

Donnella and J’Twasha both used the words "liberated" and "individuality" when describing what it meant to be natural. The natural movement however isn’t anything new. Singer James Brown is one of the earliest cases of “going natural” that I personally know of. In the 50’s and 60’s Blacks wore the conk which was a perm that men wore styled forwards.

Angela Davis rockin' her Revolutionary fro

By the 70’s natural hair was the normal thing to do. The Afro meant “I’m Black and I’m proud” and it was quite stylish. In the 80’s the jherri curl was the hottest trend and perms and relaxers became the norm again. By the 90’s dreads, cornrows and other natural hairstyles became prominent hair styles for people of color.

When asked, Donnella said she thinks that today’s natural hair movement could be another fad. She also believes wearing natural hair could become permanent "if we teach our children to love and embrace their hair and how it comes out of their heads."

Natural hair seems to have become the new norm among black women. I personally see it as a way of life. After learning about the harm a relaxer or perm could do to one’s hair, it seemed like almost overnight black women ditched their perms for braids, twist outs and short hair cuts. Many of the women, most of them my mother’s age if not older all said they noticed a trickle down effect from their hair down to their overall health. From the foods they ate, to the types of soap they used for hygienic purposes based on what our African ancestors used.

Courtesy: Liberator Magazine

I asked Donnella if she thought of today’s natural hair movement as a new civil rights movement. She replied no and offered an explanation. Civil Rights was about gaining rights for an oppressed people. This is about black self-love and knowledge of self and spirituality. Our culture from Africa was stripped from us when we were gathered on a boat. Ask a white guy about his heritage. He’s German on his dad’s side and Irish on his mom’s side. Ask me the same question. My dad’s family is from Alabama and Georgia and my mom’s family is from Arkansas.

We have no past identity. My generation has just begun to explore our history as a whole. Natural hair can be a gateway for us to learn more about black history from "over there." We can never know where we are headed if we don’t know where we come from. Having black hair can unlock so much about us. The question then becomes, "what do these naps, kinks and coils really mean to us?"

Blought #19: Is Cultural Appropriation a Real Problem?

Is denying a white person the freedom to embrace cultures outside of their own racists or justifiable?

This is probably as best a time to be African American as it’s ever been. The nation’s first black president is finishing up his second term, our music continues to dominate the airways and American pop culture and racists attitudes and remarks are finally becoming taboo in our society. As a black male in my early 20’s it’s great to know that I live in a country that is becoming more socially liberal and accepting of all types of cultures.

I do however find it counterproductive to our own cause as a race and culture to blast anything not black that would like to take part in our culture. I know cultural appropriation exists but is it always negative when a white girl wants to wear cornrows? How can hair braiding be cultural appropriation when cultures in Europe and Asia had their own braiding styles that most black hair textures can‘t achieve. The modern cornrow wasn’t worn until c. 1970. I know this question is becoming old but are you black women not appropriating white culture when you dye your hair blonde?

Would you shun an  African American who dressed and behaved like this?

You can’t say them wearing our fashion is cultural appropriation. The Hip-Hop era took white owned brands like Adidas, Nike, Levi and Kangol and made them a part of our culture. Adidas was founded in Germany and even made boots for German soldiers during WWII. Nike was created by Phil Knight from Oregon in the 1970’s for track and field athletes. Levi’s was invented by German immigrant Levi Strauss during the California Gold Rush in the mid 1800’s and Kangol was created by a Polish dude in the late 1930’s.

So I guess you’ll say the music is being appropriated by Macklemore and Iggy Azalea. I call complete bullshit. One of Hip-Hop’s most revered pioneers are the Beastie Boys. Three white Jewish kids from Brooklyn who loved listening to the Funk music of the 70’s like Parliament Funkadelic and Bootsy Collins. They were essentially the first rap group by today’s standards. Who says a white kid can’t enjoy Hip-Hop as much as a black kid? It’s hard to call anything music wise cultural appropriation when it was whites, mostly Jewish who are responsible for putting Hip-Hop in the mainstream. It’s like slavery and abolitionists. Without white abolitionists there would have been no abolishment of slavery. In theory, without rich Jewish Investors there would be no Hip-Hop.

Not even the same hairstyle bro...

I can understand the cause for alarm. The line between Cultural Appropriation and Appreciation is a very thin one. Writer and Illustrator Mojuicy from Queens, New York explored the difference in his 2014 piece titled “Appropriation vs. Appreciation”. He described Lady Gaga’s wearing of a Burqa as a “sexual” and non-Political play that “position Middle Eastern cultures as a second class, exotic cultures worth dominating.” I’m not Arab so I won’t speak on his sentiments, but I can speak on mine.

I believe the idea of our claims of Cultural Appropriation comes from the belief that African Americans have nothing else to offer besides our music and fashion. To me that speaks poorly of us as a race and culture. We place emphasis on things that don’t reflect positively on us as a race. I will be the first to admit that I sag my pants, listen to vulgar rap music and I curse more than the congregation shouts “Amen” on Sunday.

Some argue that Appropriation is an extension of Slavery. I’d like to refute that by saying it could be an extension of Jim Crow. In my eyes we, meaning African Americans are keeping Jim Crow alive ourselves. The idea of hatred fueled racism. That same hatred has trickled down into the black psyche causing us to hate the white man in turn making our main objective to reject the white man in the same manner he has done us for centuries.

To me Cultural Appropriation is another device for us to pigeonhole our objectives and movements as a race. If we can move on from what we shun other cultures in appreciating, then we can spend more time on fixing real problems facing our community versus focusing on ones that offer no threat to our culture or race.

Sources:
http://interruptmag.com/article/appropriation-vs-appreciation

http://www.lovelyish.com/2013/04/15/the-beautiful-and-amazing-history-of-braids/

http://www.feminish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/culturalappropriationread.pdf

The Strange Career of Jim Crow by C. Van Woodward

Authentic Issue - F*ck All That, Just Rap!

Cleveland rapper Authentic Issue released his latest project F*ck All That, Just Rap! on Audiomack last night. Click the link below to stream and download.

Authentic Issue - F*ck All That, Just Rap! - Download and Stream | Audiomack

A Refreshing Sound for Cleveland Hip-Hop

Cleveland rapper Authentic Issue is set to release his new mixtape titled “Fuck All That, Just Rap!”. He passed me two of the songs off of the upcoming project and I must say I was impressed. The Intro is a sobering reality of what Cleveland is going through during this time of transition. The public housing area known as Longwood or Down the Way, the area Authentic Issue calls home has gone through some drastic change over the past few years.

The sound bytes at the end of the intro explains the general process of gentrification, something that Clevelanders are becoming quite aware of. At the end of the song there is a disagreement between a younger voice and an older voice where the younger voice believes there should be a community effort to keep the neighborhood “black” and black owned in an attempt to resist the assumed gentrification of a predominantly black neighborhood. The older voice blames the culture of drug dealing and black on black crime for devaluing the property of the black neighborhood.

The second track titled Real Shit uses a sample of the late Barry White’s Cant Get Enough of Your Love Baby, and while it doesn’t have an apparent message like the Intro did it’s still a fun song to listen to. Issue plays around on the track with simple but lyrical punch lines and even shares a moment of laughter with a playful “do-do-do” chant.

Fuck All That Just Rap looks to be a different type of rap than what is usually promoted around the city. You can follow Authentic Issue on Twitter and Instagram @Ant_Ant91. Fuck All That, Just Rap! releases Halloween on Datpiff and Hot New Hip-Hop.

Blought #16: How to Keep a Great City Great

This past Saturday I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Greater Cleveland chapter of the National Association of Black Journalist conference at Tri-C‘s auditorium. The NABJ hosted the conference, titled ‘Covering Comeback Cities. The list of speakers included  NBC WKYC-TV's Russ Mitchell, Fox-TV’s Charlie LeDuff of The Americans With Charlie LeDuff; Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge; Cleveland Mayor Frank L. Jackson; Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams; and Chuck Stokes, Detroit's WXYZ-TV Director of Editorial/Public Affairs and son of the late Mayor Louis

It was a great atmosphere for a young writer like myself  to network and make connections. It was also an opportunity to gauge where my city was headed. Before the first panel started  Mayor Frank Jackson took the podium to share a few words. He talked about how Cleveland has spent billions of dollars to upgrade the city and how that wouldn’t be enough. There is a cycle of “boom and decline” that has to be broken.  The Mayor finished up by saying that “A great city isn’t based on the billions spent. It is what we do for the least of it. We need to make prosperity available for all.”

I trusted Mayor Jackson after he said that, even though he couldn’t have cared less about meeting me until I mentioned we both graduated from Cleveland State. The first panel discussion focused on crime and included Calvin Williams, Chief of police Cleveland; Charlie Leduff, Pulitzer winner and the host of The Americans with Charlie Leduff, and Dr. Rhonda Y. Williams of Case Western Reserve University’s Social Justice Institute. The panel was moderated by Harry Boomer of CBS 19 News. From the first panel to the fifth and final panel, excluding Session 3 which talked about SEO and Periscope, there was a common theme I heard on every panel this past Saturday.

We need to focus on the poor and invest in our children. As a city made up of over 53% of Blacks and 10% Lationo or Hispanic, we need to pull together and get a handle on this crime. We need to protect our inner city communities and children from themselves and an unjust system favoring an opposite side. The seeds of education need to be planted at a very early age. We need to graduate more students,  64.3% versus a national average of 81% is unacceptable (as is having an 81% national average but that’s a rant for another day).

Basically what I’m trying to say is that in order to make sure Cleveland stays on the up and up then we have to invest in the future of Cleveland not monetarily, but socially. We don’t want this place to become a ghost town after the RNC. We want our city to thrive and become something we can pass down to our children’s children.

Blought #15: You woke? Then go back to sleep...

African Americans are entering a pivotal time in history as is the rest of the world. Blacks are finally at the doorstep we’ve been searching for since arriving on this stolen property some 400 odd years ago. Yes racism and discrimination exists but now they have become void excuses. The only thing holding us back is ourselves. Blacks have excelled in everything imaginable form entertainment to business to technology. I preach about this often but now I’m officially addressing it. YOU FAUX BLACK ELITES NEED TO STOP IT!!

What is a faux black elite you ask? My definition is as follows, any African American who claims to be “woke” and attempts to exude a higher level of knowledge of self over their fellow African Americans. I posted a meme that mirrored my sentiments. A high school classmate of mine by the name of  Daniel had this to say:

“This is something I've noticed as well. Most notably people who claim to be "woke" seem to still be limited in their thought process. A lot have the "if it glitters its gold mentality" about the information they find and the sources they receive it from. Almost like they're so excited to be classified in this group of very intelligent people of color that they've come up with to label themselves as, that they make the same illogical and poorly reasoned decisions that made them "sleep" or whatever there alternative is in the first place.

True intelligence does not have to be thrown in your face, its to be recognized. Nor does it make any sense to educate yourself for the purpose of bragging to others.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. They are most easily identified by wearing African diaspora garb and regurgitating insanely inaccurate memes and information regarding our history. Faux Black Elite, you’re hurting the cause. Peace.