Black Woman's Burden

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December 14, 2006

Just Thinking...

Good Morning...well, when I started this piece it was morning: Now it's good afternoon, and I'm starving!

Today's diatribe is a result of the recent controversy surrounding the Assata Shakur/Guillermo Morales Center sign at City College. I wrote an oppinion a couple of days ago about it, but I've had some time to think and well, you know what happens when I start thinking...

The sign above the Student Center at City College which reads, "Assata Shakur/Guillermo Morales Center" will be taken down, and no doubt renamed. My initial reaction to this controversy was that it was trivial. Doesn't this Kadinsky kid have anything better to do than defame Black and Latino heros? It's not like they're being given a congressional medal of honor for Chrissakes, their (little known by many) names were going to be humbly displayed by students who were honoring their contributions to Black and Latino history.

As a Black woman, I felt that somehow I had been stripped of a piece of my history. During college I can remember throwing my fist in the air, as a salute to Black Power and pride. I was tired of learning about the oppression, suffering and fear that Blacks had suffered under a racist system. I felt vindicated knowing that the Black Liberation Army, the Black Panthers and the heros associated with the Black Power Movement were fighting back. Instead of feeling hurt and embarrassed by the atrocities of slavery, Jim Crow segregation and violence. I finally felt empowered. I was impressed by the mile high afros of Assata Shakur and Angela Davis. Beautiful sisters with dazzling smiles and fierce pride who would not be intimidated by a racist and unjust system. They fought back.

During college,I had just come into my racial and political identity, and this was more than thirty years after the Civil Rights struggle and Black Power movement. I watched hoses and dogs sicced on little children while they went to school, churches being bombed, countless murders of little Black boys and girls who were simply exercising their inalienable rights as Americans, while the government and the police who were supposed to serve and protect turned a blind eye. I'll never forget how I felt when I saw the photo of Bobby Seale and the Black Panthers storming the California legislator with their guns raised, embracing their rights as Americans to bear arms, and protect themselves against who they felt were killer cops in their communities that harrassed and victimized them

The turbulent 60's gave rise to the Black Liberation Army, FALN (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional) and other guerrilla organizations, which produced the Assata Shakurs, Guillermo Morales' Stokely Carmichaels, Huey Newtons, and Soledad brothers who would risk their lives to stand up to an inherently racist system.

I read an excerpt of Assata's biography in which she describes that fateful night when New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster was shot. She was wounded as well. Assata maintains her innocence and claims that she was framed. I cannot speak to that. Although it is not unlikely-there were many political activists considered subversive and framed by the FBI, and CIA.

I remember being heartbroken coming to terms with the demise of the Black Power Movement which disolved not only because of FBI infiltration but because of a lack of organization and cohesiveness among it's members.

None of us will know for certain what occured on that fateful night more than 30 years ago, the one thing we know for sure is that Werner Foerster was fatally shot, Assata was convicted of the crime and she, along with Morales, escaped custody and found freedom in Cuba.

A friend of mine travelled to Cuba many years ago with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement where they were able to visit with Assata Shakur. At that time, she told my friend how she was saddened by the fact that she wasn't able to see her new born grand-child who was in the United States with her daughter whom she hadn't seen in years.

In yesterday,'s Daily News article, Joe Connor, expressed regret that his father, Frank Connor, who was a victim of one of Morales' bombs, "went to City College for several years and never had room named after him." *

That got me to thinking...

My politics have matured over the years, and I can no longer say I support any form of nationalism, as I think it is divisive. Disparities exist between us, but I believe that the sooner we move away from making race the focal point of every discussion, the sooner we can move towards achieving some kind of human understanding and connection,which ultimately will lead to healing and cooperation. Whether you are poor or rich, Black or white, male or female, we all experience grief, joy, pain and loss. Human emotion transcends all those superficial things like race, class and sex.

II understand that it's difficult to ignore race in this case because of the political and racial circumstances during which these incidents took place. However, I want to address another issue: the student who alerted the Daily News to the sign and started the controversy, Sergey Kadinsky. It would be unfair of me to assume that his actions were racially motivated (i.e.-that nigger bitch is a cop-killer! Yeah, I just said what many of those who expressed outrage were thinking) but I wonder if he understands why these two people are considered heroes to their people. I wonder if he understands the racial, social and political climate that converted Josie Chesimard to Assata Shakur, and motivated Guillermo Morales to create the bombs which caused him to blow up his own fingers. It may be bold to say this but hey-it's my blog and I can be as bold as I please-but Kadinsky's last name suggests to me that he should understand the reason some people are lauded as heroes while others may villify them for bucking against a an unjust system. If not him, perhaps his ancestors would.

I also found myself thinking about the Sean Bell shooting and this Assata Shakur cop-killer controversy. I hope that justice is served as quickly in the Sean Bell shooting case as the sign came down at City College. I know...I know...I think too much.

Posted by renee at 9:34 AM | Comments (1)

December 12, 2006

Straight from the Headlines...

So much is going on in the world today, I can barely keep up. Not that I want to. I get pissed off every time I watch or read the news. Has the world gone mad? Apparently so. It's taking me right along with it.

So here are a few things I'd like to get off my chest this morning:

What the fff???? I understand the importance of upholding constitutional rights, but something is wrong when working people such as myself bust their asses at jobs we don't necessarily love-to avoid panhandling. Well, here it is-a pan handler is awarded 100,000 dollars for basically, being a pan handler. It turns out begging and being arrested numerous times is much more lucrative then having a Master's Degree and working for a living.

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City College has decided to name it's Community Center after exiled Civil Rights activist Assata Shakur, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for killing a New Jersey State Trooper. Cops are outraged that the center would be supported by tax dollars, and named after a terrorist, while others claim that she was a victim of racism and injustice because of her political affiliations. J.Edgar Hoover has a building named after him, why not call it even?

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Idiots of the week:
Foxy Brown aka Inga Marchand (We know your Haitian, stop telling people that you're Jamaican!) The chick definetely has an identity crisis-she should have been locked up a long time ago for impersonating Biggie Smalls, or Li'l Kim. Anyway, the 'ill-na na' has violated her probation for bitch slapping and kicking the employees at the salon where she had her nails done. She had the audacity to claim that she didn't think she'd be "thrown in with the wolves", and that she wasn't one of "them" referring to criminals that are on probation. Ummm...excuse me but you ARE ONE OF THEM. Probation is for people who have been convicted of a crime, Ms. Brown. She was bragging about being so hardcore before, now she' s afraid to be in the same room with her "peeps"? Maybe this is what she needs to revive her career. What's she afraid of anyway? She's from Brooklyn...

Anyway...idiot number two-Nicole Richie who admitted to smoking pot, taking Vicodin and being 85 pounds after she was arrested for DUI. That damn girl needs a good spanking. Where the hell is daddy Lionel? I thought he adopted her to save her from trouble. I'm so tired of these spoiled rich brats that claim to have problems and take up far too much space in our daily news. Who the hell cares if she weighs 85 pounds? Maybe if we're lucky, she'll disappear.
I'm sorry, but there are real people with real problems in the world. Men, are being killed, women and children are being tortured and raped in Darfur. Some people are starving, not because of some stupid fashion trend, but because they can't afford food. I'm tired of hearing about these insensitive, spoiled brats who have too much money and too little sense.

And last but not least...

I recently created an entry about the Sean Bell shooting but due to a conflict of interest, felt it was better that I removed the piece.
Today, I read that a march is being planned for this Saturday by Al Sharpton called Shopping for Justice. Abner Louima is supposed to attend. He advised Nicole Paultre Bell to keep calm, and be strong." I think that's good advice and I pray that advice is followed by all, and that includes those who are marching, as well as our elected officials and community leaders. I stand firm by my belief that the way to affect change is through direct communication between all affected parties. Maybe I'm idealistic, but I believe that justice will prevail.

With that being said, I'd like to post a comment from my piece that speaks directly to the issue-sad, but unfortunately true...

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I'm stunned when people say this incident wasn't about race. That implies that racism is something that only comes from white individuals; the mere participation of black folks somehow proves that it's not a racial issue.

I believe that this is 100% an issue of institutional racism. It's not a coincidence that incidents like this don't happen to white people, or in affluent areas. The NYPD as an organization has determined that certain types of people in certain neighborhoods deserver a certain kind of treatment and a certain type of policing. We need to address these problems at an institutional rather than individual level if we hope for things to ever change.

...and I must say, I also see parallels with the Iraq mess...even if I'm stretching a bit. So much of our foreign policy was driven by "white man's burden" type thinking that certain types of people don't desire or deserve to be treated in the same way Americans or Europeans would like to be treated. By that I mean, to have their sovereignty respected, and their right to determine their own government and cultural structures acknowledged.

Remember the statements about us being greeted as liberators in Iraq? Isn't the viewpoint that people are going to greet a foreign army invading their country and taking over the government as liberators driven by the same type of 2-D view of people that allows for three unarmed men to be shot at 50 times?

Posted by renee at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)

December 5, 2006

O.K., O.K, I'm listening...

I should have done this a long time ago:

The reason I'm "speaking my peace" is because I've had a rude awakening. I know that I have unconventional views about race and politics, which sort of make me a pariah where I come from and I'm dealing with that. Let me make it very clear: I would never deny the reality of racism, I just believe in order to expel it( if, in fact it can ever be expelled ) we must learn how to contain it.

Maybe I' m living in a fantasy world. A world in which my opinions remain just that, with no chance of changing minds or influencing policy change. Perhaps my thoughts and theories are just pipe dreams, and my eloquent and passionate words will end up blowing in the wind and I'll have to give up my dream of being the one to have ushered in world peace with a simple stroke of some letters on a key board and a network of undercover bloggers for change. Forgive me, I thought as a writer, I had carte blanche to tell it like it is! I learned that I need to think, before I write.

It was, nor will it ever be my intention to offend. Writing is my breath. I cannot survive if I cannot write. I write my politics, I write my race, I write my life. It's the only platform I have to vent my frustrations and tell anyone who will listen (good lookin' out Ray ) what I think is wrong with the world. It ain't pretty, and the truth hurts. (well, my truth anyway.) I probably should start taking my mother's advice: count to three and walk away, but writing is how I walk away.

This is the reason I call my blog Black Woman's Burden. You can't imagine the burden I carry every day, being Black, being a woman, and being outspoken on issues of race and identitiy. I have views which supposedly defy what I'm supposed to stand for. I'm expected to compromise my opinions because of what I do. I can understand that. That doesn't mean I like it, and
besides, I'm a scorpio, controversy and confrontation is my birthright) Do you know that a scorpio would rather sting itself to death than submit to defeat?

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Anyway, I digress...
While I'm speaking my piece, I have to address something that's been on my mind for a while. The recent Sean Bell shooting, and Michael Richards have something awful in common and it all came to me watching the Martin Scorcese film, "Taxi."

A few weeks ago, Taxi Driver was on Bravo.Throughout the movie they've blocked out curse words and cut scenes and stuff that might be offensive to viewers. Eventually we get to the scene where Martin Scorcese's character finds out his girlfriend is cheating on him and he asks Robert DeNiro if he knows who lives in the apartment building they are parked in front of. An enrgaged Scorcese tells Deniro's character Travis that a "Nigger" lives there. While I was prepared for that-it still felt like someone had sliced my tongue open with a razor and forced me to drink pure alcohol. Why didn't the censors block that word? Or the word spook. I suppose they feel that fuck, shit, ass et al are more deterimental to society than a word that has enabled racism, oppression, violence, slavery, dehumanization and the degradation of an entire race of people? You see people, that's why I write-because the people who claim to know and do better don't! Alright...alright, I'm counting to three...

Callous use of the n word has consequences: While I understand the need for "realism" and good movie-making, it comes at a cost. It rationalizes stereotypes and attitudes. In the Taxi scene all we know is that Scorceses girlfriend is supposedly having an affair with a Black man and according to Scorcese this is a loathsome offense worthy of murder. The audience doesn't know what the circumstances surrounding the affair are, or who this Black man is. He's just an "n" word. Michael Richards, in attempt to absolve himself of a bad comedy act tried to dehumanize the two young men he insulted so that they could share his shame.

The n word is relevant in discussing the recent Sean Bell shooting. You will never hear it uttered, especially with all the controversy surrounding the case but it doesn't need to be spoken, especially when the community feels that they've been treated as worthless "n" words, and how could they not when an unarmed, presumably innocent man is gunned down mercilessly in the street.

When is it going to end?

Posted by renee at 12:20 PM