Rights For Who?

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, that among these are the Right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

   The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776...

   Have no faith in Constitution...

                    lyrics from the song "Spirits In The Material World", sung by The Police

I'm trying to think how long I tolerated the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith, before ejecting the DVD and placing it back in the case. I think it was somewhere around the 30-40 minute area. The last thing I can remember was this man accepting a full-time, no paying, intern position, while his living conditions greatly deteriorated, causing internal strife within the family, and ultimately leading to his wife leaving he and his son behind. He also spent the course of a year homeless while he pursued his quest for "happiness."

Today Chris Gardner, the protagonist of the movie, is touted as some type of shining example of "initiative", or as conservatives say "pulling up the bootstraps" and all that mumbo jumbo. Personally, I saw the movie as another scapegoat of avoiding the rights of the people upon its' government,  which is to insure justice among its citizens, by using media to persuade the ignorant masses that access to the basic necessities is a "privilege", and not a right.

What if this guy was unsuccessful in his pursuit? Would we have a movie entitled "Ni**er, Have You Lost Your Damn Mind?!" ? How many of us have been chastised or questioned for "quitting our day job," to follow our dreams, and pursue this ever-elusive "happiness"?

Looking back on this piece of propaganda now, and how it upset me so much, I think about the title itself and what it entails, and I think about the omission of the other "unalienable Rights" not mentioned in the title, which to me are more important than this "right" of the "Pursuit of Happiness", a vague "right" which was declared at the expense of the genocide of Native Americans, and the multitudes of African slaves who were exploited to the utmost degree while a few European immigrants sought their slanted interpretation of this pursuit, and to fulfill this "manifest destiny".

No Right to Life, and definitely no Right to Liberty for them. So don't even bother mentioning happiness.

Today when I look at this nation and its pursuit of happiness, I think of the constant propaganda campaigns by some liberals used to persuade people to be more concerned with legalizing certain drugs and certain lifestyles, same-sex marriage, instituting transgender bathrooms and gentrifying areas the local or state government neglected, forcing the current residents to flee due to the inability to afford high rent and property taxes, while neglecting what this nation seems to be doing to those who don't have access to the basic essentials of life itself; food, clothing, shelter, general health care, and so on.

Yasmin Nair, an LGBT activist, spoke last year about what she felt was the real intention behind this push for same-sex marriage. 

TRNN Video: Gay Marriage Victory Is Not About Equality

At the same time I see some conservatives denying people of colors' Right to Life, defend the killing of unarmed Black men, criminalizing the poor, justifying mass incarceration and disenfranchisement of Black men, using this so-called War on Drugs and the profits generated from it, legalize mass exploitation of people through banking systems, using Big Gov to fund their imperialistic endeavors, inflate prices upon the populace, and demonizing other governments and beliefs by accusing their way of life as backwards and barbaric in an effort to assure no one would look for alternative ways of life.  

In all of this furor, these "Rights" endowed by Creator, as the Declaration claims, seem to look more like privileges to those without any political voice, means, and definitely no media to articulate their concerns.

And BET and TV ONE do not count as Black Media...and definitely not OWN...so don't begin to kid yourself.

Deep in the heart of Texas, more people on food stamps are being "re-orientated" to get back into workforce, obtain jobs, or to get "better paying" jobs, in an effort to make themselves "self-sufficient". Recipients are being sent blue sheets of paper which state that it is a requirement for those on food stamps to look for work. This scheme requires a collaboration between the State Department of Human Services and the Texas Workforce Commission.

In this program people are being required to submit a certain amount of entries to businesses every week for a number of weeks in order to keep their food stamp benefits. Those who are working, but not working a required amount of hours are also being placed in this program as well.   

In order to sell this, propaganda, or PR was used, and you know the usual culprits; racial anecdotes of Black people and their "treacherous" ways of manipulating human services, selling their food stamps for money to buy drugs, abusing their Section 8 privileges by allowing uncertified people to live with them, and so on. This propaganda perfectly fits the analysis given by Mumia Abu Jamal of how the impoverished are portrayed in America as possessing "character flaws", or a "defect of the spirit".

While many may think this orientation process is admirable, the reality is that this scheme's ultimate purpose is to reduce the state's' "burden" of  having to provide access to decent nutrition to its citizens, a "right" or "entitlement" to the citizens of the state. The fact remains that the overwhelming majority of those on food stamps are not on it due to lack of employment, or of substantial employment, but the inability to afford sufficient nutrition for themselves and their families. 

But when the masses of people hear the constant rumblings in the media about LaQuita and her 5 children by 4 different men, the tendency of Americans is to welcome these "reforms" presented to the nation as a way to get rid of this "welfare state", or as Bill Cosby put it once, a "culture of poverty".

 Edward L. Bernays, the late psychoanalyst and nephew to Sigmund Freud called it "The Engineering of Consent."

So forget the statistics that show most food stamp recipients in America are White, you can't use them as the boogeyman, that won't go over too well. You need to reach deep down and pull out the most sinister culprit to remove people's entitlement to the basic necessities of life. Sorta like when "radical Islamists" are used to remove people's entitlement to privacy.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, under this program those considered able to work but unable to find "gainful employment" are subject perform "community service".  So now not having a job sounds like a misdemeanor. Just like the Black Codes. And you know what that lead to.

No wonder so many disenfranchised and poor youth either take the grimy road of hustling, or voice their displeasure of the way things work here in America, such as lyrics like these:

F**k your American Dream

That sh*t's not real

It's really more of an American Scheme

Cuz ' When I think of the American Dream

 I think about

Student Debt, Inflation, and how my Ancestors screamed

Look the corporations really hate you

and almost every institution is tryin to rape you

 But they don't care...

 lyrics from the forthcoming song "Like Us", performed by Knoxie-Ty.

Random Thought

Thought of the Day...My neighbor across the street from me lost a child last week...only 11 years old...died of an asthma attack in her sleep...Broke my heart. I don't know all of the details behind how that happened nor do I want to know, however I know this much.  African American community kids are more likely to develop asthma and other respiratory diseases than any other ethnic group, yet not too many people seem to know how, or most doctors I've faced won't tell the truth. A lot of it is due to socio-economic reasons, but smoking is also a major issue that most don't want to touch. And in all honesty, the way I've seen some Black people smoke, beit marijuana or cigarettes or those funky fruit-flavored cigars, I don't see any reason for decline for Black babies developing asthma anytime soon. While riding the train yesterday a young man with his son stepped on board, and the young man reeked of marijuana, yet this little boy wouldn't stop crying. I thought to myself he could be crying because of the smell he had to endure... I'm speaking of this issue because a few years back a local children's hospital was running laboratory tests and such on Black kids, claiming to be conducting "research" to determine how could Black youth contract asthma more than any other ethnic group in America. As if they really don't know. Anyway that's all I have to say, because if I say anymore, the way people's thought processes have been hampered, many will take offense and put on their ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME shirts, and spew all kinds of names, when all you're doing is bringing an issue to the forefront .

Bamboozled: Spike Lee and the Case of Bad Timing... Part One

Yep...Spike, you've done it again.


You've continually managed to somehow stir up some type of controversy surrounding your releasing of new movies. This time it's packaged in the satirical movie entitled Chiraq. Drama and hype never ceases to be too far behind when your movies hit theaters, not the type of drama that would have some afraid to go see the movie out of fear that violence would erupt, such as some had suspected when the movie Do The Right Thing premiered. I saw the special edition DVD, which contained interviews at the Cannes Film Festival. I saw the "concern" of some Whites, especially the White woman who asked why did you show Malcolm X's statements about using violence to defend oneself when attacked first, as opposed to Dr. King's call for nonviolence. I think you handled that question in excellent fashion.

But in this movie Chiraq, I am forced to voice my concern and confusion over the approach of this film. This film is supposed to be a "satire", which the average homie or street dude on the corner may not fully understand what's going on. But I understand fully.

See, I am a Muslim, and I'm ever-watchful of the backlash against Muslims due to propaganda, especially the "events" that took place in France over the Charlie Hebdo issue, as well as the shootings in Garland, Texas, which supposedly took place over a Prophet Muhammad cartoon drawing contest, which was mysteriously devised by Pam Gellar and Geert Wilders, two non-Muslims who are notorious for stirring up anti-Muslim sentiments, and hiding them under pseudonyms of "free-speech" or in the case of Charlie Hebdo "satire". I am fully aware that satire is used to ridicule a particular individual, group, institution, or belief, using slick humor. I'm also aware that it is used as a form of subversion in an attempt to bring down such entities and ideologies.

Which is why I'm very confused as to why would you take this approach in addressing the violence in Chicago, especially in lieu of the proliferation of the Black feminist movement, and their "gynocentric" view of the world, which renders man, especially Black men in this case, as inept, belligerent, incompetent beings who only understands violence, sex, and money, having very little or no intellect at all, and proving incapable of having any positive impact in society, whether from a societal, or familial point of view.

The idea of using an old Greek comedy of women banning the coochie in order to increase the peace among warring factions is befuddling to say the least.  In this case of Chiraq, you are using women, whom for some strange reason are "empowered" to withhold sex from their combative significants as some sort of protest without asking the question why would such "intelligent" soul sistas would even skooch the coochie to such men who harbor self-destructive behavior in the first place is perplexing! Talk about paradoxical!

TO BE CONTINUED....

My First Artwalk and the Liberty and Justice FOR ALL Exhibit

 This past weekend was filled with more excitement and enthusiasm from a creative perspective than I have witnessed in few years. Why do I say that, you may ask? Well let me tell you. The last time I participated in an art exhibit was almost 2 years ago, when I presented a piece to a gallery located downtown called The Art Hotel Collective. The reception was positive, and I met some cool artists down there. Well due to unforseen circumstances, the gallery moved to the Valley View Mall located in North Dallas, and the gallery became The SLANT Gallery Collective.  It's a much broader layout, and they're able to exhibit more work, including their own, like this cool piece here.

 This piece came from a young local artist Madelyn Sneed, who had an exhibitt with some wonderful paintings inspired by a trip to France. Great oil paintings!










However it is the following exhibit that delighted me, because 1) it deals with something close to my heart, that being social commentary. For the months of May and June The SLANT Gallery will hold an exhibit entitled Liberty and Justice FOR ALL...This one was right up my alley, although I must say I didn't expect my entry to be accepted. Over the past couple of years I experienced so many dry spells, rejections, illnesses and personal issues that I had developed an attitude where my art was only to keep what little personal sanity that I may have. Lack of funds, resources, and the inability to find gainful employment kept me down. Not to mention offers to hold an art workshop at my library somehow fell through the cracks. After submitting proposals and stuff, and watching other programs become approved, as well as getting paid for those programs, I began to become completely despondent, and my art suffered greatly. My spirits had reached a critical low, and depression set in, followed by anxiety. This is not something I would wish on anybody.

When I submitted the pieces the previous weekend, I awaited for the response, which was supposed to have been before midnight Sunday May 3rd. I woke up the next day, didn't see any response, and chalked it up as another loss. However lo and behold, that notification came later in the day, and my picture Pariah: Apocalyptic Now was chosen to be displayed at the exhibit. The exhibit deals with all of the plights of different sectors of people and what they experience in the US, however there is an international flavor added to the exhibit as well. I did not get a pic of all of the pieces, nor did I get the names of the artists and the pieces for everyone, but since the exhibit will be shown during the month of June also, it gives me a chance to collect more for the next blog. 

       
                                                                                          

    This piece was on the exhibit poster, and the artist Karen Jacobi gave me a heads up on the construction of this piece. 

 This piece talks about the Arab Spring. I wanted to meet the artist, Seun Karim, but did not get a chance to. Hopefully next time around.

This was another one of my favorites, commenting on Mexican immigrants. 

This is Pariah: Apocalyptic Now, the piece that I entered into the exhibit, which by the way won rave reviews from many of the visitors, including the proprietor from the SMALL Gallery, which is right across from the SLANT Gallery. They had a similar exhibit, being that they are like a sister gallery to the SLANT Gallery. She has informed me that there will be an exhibition in the upcoming months, and would like to see me submit an entry there as well. 

The SMALL Gallery had an exhibition entitled Listen To The Songs of the Times, and had some marvellous presentations there as well. I plan to get more pics and info on this showing in next month's artwalk as well.

The only odd event that happened that day occurred while riding the bus to the gallery, and noticing the lady on the other side of the bus actually doodling me! Now that was AWKWARD as HECK! I'm not a photogenic type of guy, nor do I consider myself the type that could be an actual study. So, modesty and anxiety kicked in, and I turned my head toward the window so she couldn't continue...Not trying to be difficult, because I'm a chatty person, but that's gonna take some time to get used to....Anyway, till next time....Take care...

A Taste of His Own Medicine (Bill Cosby)

Peace all, know it's been a long time since actually posting a personal blog here, but I have my reasons. Amongst the hectic personal schedule I now find myself at somewhat a dilemna. Realizing that we have morphed into an image based society, mostly due to technological advances being heaped upon an unsuspecting mass of people, coupled with a fascination for celebrity status, I sometimes wonder if I should even continue with blogging, and opting more for vlogging and posting my vlogs on Youtube.

  But I'm digressing. Right now I want to briefly touch on an individual that I spoke on previously, that is Bill Cosby, or Dr. Bill Cosby, pardon my manners again. You can check out that blog by clicking HERE.

Seems that Dr. Bill now finds himself in a quandry, being the subject of multiple allegations of sexual abuse/assault by women as far back as during the early 80's, the latest being from a former model who claims that he sexually assaulted her. This is nothing new mind you, for those who remember another post where I shared a brief video by Nikki Giovanni who went on a tangient about Dr. Bill, who seemed to have taken this "tough love" stance as some would call it against poor Blacks, who he, along with other middle class and other Blacks who feel we've actually progressed feel that the issues befallen on poor Blacks are the result of their own "ineptitude", and attacking their mannerisms.




Well now Dr. Bill may be getting a taste of his own medicine, seeing that he finds himself in the midst of sexual assault claims coming from far and wide, and in the wake of the Ray Rice incident, feminism (White Feminism mind you.) finds itself leading the charge against these injustices. Now it is reported that Dr. Bill has lost endorsements, and even the new TV show slated to premiere next year on NBC, whom Bill, or Dr. Bill, has had an enduring relationship with this network, seeing that his 1984 hit The Cosby Show (which by the way was initially turned down by ABC) helped NBC maintain a long standing status as the top network on TV, before Seinfeld,  before Friends, and before the advent of the Fox, WB, and UPN networks (which WB and UPN combined and became the CW Network respectively.) Dr. Bill's success on NBC allowed him to even produce a spin-off from his original show, A Different World, which initially starred Lisa Bonet, who was reportedly released from The Cosby Show, after Dr. Bill's disenchantment of Lisa's behavior, especially in a role in the 1987 movie Angel Heart.

NBC was so grateful of Dr. Bill's contribution to their success, they even helped promote his 2007 literary piece on Meet The Press entitled Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors, a book co-written by his longtime "consultant" on The Cosby Show, Dr. Alvin Poussaint, who is a practicing psychiatrist. How's that for propaganda?   The book, along with his popular rants, peaking in the 2004 NAACP address, divided the lines in Black society between those who feel that Blacks have made strides, mainly due to the Civil Rights "victories" and those who sensed that structural racism still exists, disenfranchising many African Americans, and creating a permanent underclass of people with no recourse of action to either reclaim dignity or justice lost. Now with a person who identifies himself as a Black man in the White House, those voiceless people who felt the sting of the Black Bourgeoisie's tongue against them have even a harder time trying to convince their Black middle class compatriots that structural racism is still a hindrance to the advancement of Black people, coupled with the Black middle class' denial or cowardliness, and the recent killings of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, John Crawford, Ezell Ford and others at the hand of vigilantes and rogue police, the future of Black America doesn't seem to be too bright.

Thanks for your contribution, Dr. Bill.

So my thoughts on the situation? Well, as Brother Malcolm (Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz) stated in reference to JFK's assassination, it's the results of "the chicken's coming home to roost". The climate that Dr. Bill created with his rants, which were backed by pundits in the so called "Black Press" and presented in the mainstream press as "news", along with his TV show, with his tap dancing around contemporary issues among Black people for fear of as he would put it "reinforcing stereotypes", polarized contemporary Black society, and helped to subside Whites' guilt about living in a society where Race determines social status and upward mobility. He has no remorse for the propaganda he and his partner-in-crime Dr. Poussaint spreaded, which in a book entitled Enlightened Racism: The Cosby Show, Audiences, and the Myth of the American Dream by Sut Jhally shows that results of the show did not actually introduce positive Black family models, but rather confirmed White's insistences that structural racism did not exist, and that Blacks' failure to achieve the American Dream were due to their own inability to "pull up their bootstraps". Now that the shoe seems to be on the other foot, I wonder if Dr. Bill will wake up and wise up?

As far as the allegations go, I don't comment on those, for all I know those are at this point merely "allegations". The biggest problem that I have with the allegations is that they have a tendency to destroy credibility of a person's position on important topics. While Dr. Bill did stress personal accountability and attacked the personal behavior of poor Blacks, his denial of the impact of structural racism and White Supremacy still remains the focal point of discussion, at least in my opinion. Guilty or not of the allegations, the propaganda of poor Blacks that shaped public opinion is what's worth discussing here because it's the same stuff that's pushed by the likes of Oprah, Obama, Charles Barkley, and any other Black person with more than five dollars in their pocket and a token position. Despite a constant barrage of evidence that would suggest otherwise, like multiple video footage of Blacks being killed with no recourse, and the rising discrimination suits that go unheard or unattended to, some of us still harbor this erroneous belief that these things are the result of Blacks' failure and inferiority. It is this that I wish to contend with, and not someone's apparent personal hypocrisy and shortcomings.

But I know some people are going to get their kicks out of these allegations and their impact on his reputation and future endeavors. And while it is tempting to throw egg in the man's face, I must stay focused on the real issues. The ones that affect all of us.

But in closing I have one more thing to say......HA!

Peace....www.qartworks.com

Still At It....

Peace all, been under the weather the past few weeks, trying to get back to normal health. Working on some projects as well...In the meantime check out this sad video of giving a 17 year old 35 years for credit card fraud. Utterly speechless.

Post by Mass Incarceration Must Stop NOW.

What's The Deal Bill? The War Between The Others And The Others Pt. 1

This is the first of a series of sad but true stories of what happens when those who represent the minorities of America feel that they've made some accomplishments, which results in them blaming the majority of those who've suffered from structural racism and White supremacy in America as "inept" and "inferior".

I begin this series with Bill Cosby, or Dr. William H. Cosby, sorry for my blatant disrespect. Somehow this man keeps popping up in the media, beit corporate or the Black media, with the usual rant about how poor Blacks(note his rants are against one section of people) are not holding up their end of the bargain, or selling short on the Civil Rights movement. It's gotten to a point where I cringe everytime I hear or see this man's name, because I know it's not going to be good, because it's obvious that Bill, or Dr. Bill has a serious connection problem with lower class Black people.

Growing up I watched Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids religiously, as well as The Cosby Show and A Different World in my later years. Like most people, I didn't know then what I know now, which is the fact Dr. Bill is participating in a sinister war of various implications, not just on race relations, but a class war as well. How is that you ask? By not honing in on society's ills which affect its constituency, and ranting on and on about personal behavior issues, Dr. Bill, like others who feel that Blacks have progressed, places the blame solely on the individual, or in this sense, since we're talking about Black people we have to discuss the "group collective" or the double-standard that we place on each other that the actions of one or even a few Blacks represent THE WHOLE RACE.

 I didn't know the hidden subtleties that were inserted inside these shows, such as the lack of racial identity or the lack of approaching social issues that affected Blacks. Bill, oh sorry, I mean Dr. Bill, did not want to have a show which reflected the usual racial stereotypes as he put it, meaning The Cosby Show was not to reflect the realities of America then and now, which is why we never saw an episode where neither Theo or Elvin were profiled by the police, nor any of the kids being ridiculed about their hair, race, nor in any instance did we see any poor Blacks on his show, except the time when Elvin and Sondra leaves school and try their hand at owning a wilderness shop. Eventually Elvin comes to his senses and decides to re enter college...Ho hum...

That was another subtle theme that was inserted in these shows, this need to go to college in order to guarantee oneself a job in the mainstream. We were pummeled with these scenarios from Elvin and Sondra leaving school, only to come to their senses to Denise leaving school, going to Africa and getting married, only to come back to school in the end. The series ended with Theo graduating from college, overcoming his dyslexia and his slackness in his youth. To this day this idea is still being pushed into the minds of Black youth as the salvation of the race, although White students are growing more and more frustrated with the rising costs of tuition, the never ending student loan issue, which is now in the billion dollar range, and the lack of jobs one discovers after they've graduated. But Bill, I mean Dr. Bill and others in the Black middle class swears by this notion that a college degree will guarantee you a slot somewhere in the American Dream.  Even if his doctorate degree was the result of  simply submitting a thesis about the importance of using Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids as a learning tool...whoopee...

 Is this a subtle hint that being poor and uneducated is attributed to attitude or drive? Of being of inferior stock? So poor people are not dignified in any sense? This was the ultimate exhibition of Black middle class fantasy, in which the cries of the poor, downtrodden and destitute are completely ignored, as well as propagating the notion that the Civil Rights movement was the right course for African Americans to take, to not rock the boat and ask for justice and independence, but to ask to be included in a system that became rich from theft,  exploitation and oppression. As usual with these assimilationists, a  tribute was given to Dr. King, which symbolized assimilation and intergration and so called nonviolence, but not to Malcolm X or any of the Black Power movement participants.

 All of this was being broadcast during the height of Reaganomics and the Bush era, when social programs were cut, Black women were being targeted as welfare queens, drugs all of a sudden started appearing in the hood, wrecking families and communities, sending families scurrying in different directions, most of them having a negative end with either death or prison being the end result.  Then you had the Iran/Contra scandal, with Reagan disavowing any knowledge of the issue, jobs were cut, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. You will be hard pressed to find a Black Democrat who will disagree with this notion, so how is it now easy to believe this man's tirades about people who were the victims of these dilemnas?

Now A Different World was different in that it somewhat spoke of the issues facing a so called Black college, but it was not really a different world when you look at it more closely,  Dwayne Wayne, a homeboy from the streets of New York falls in love with a light-skinned, gentille southern Belle name Whitley Gilbert, who was materialistic to say the least, yet in the end she gets her way,  anyone who represented the counterculture was mocked, whether it was Freddie the hippie, Shaza Zulu, the pseudo Afrocentric who can't seem to graduate, to Terrence Taylor, who becomes Muslim, but you don't really know what he believes, due of the ambiguous way the teachings of Islam were handled by the show. It gave you the impression that to be a Muslim was all about freeing oneself from the oppression of the White man, ala the Nation of Islam, but I won't get into specifics with this right now. In the final season, Freddie gets rid of the hippie look, straightens out her hair, and joins the system and tells Lena(played by Jada Pinkett Smith) that she's going to assimilate into the system with the hopes of changing the system....Such delusion...Again this show gives a tribute to Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement, and pushes the constant barrage of vote, vote, vote, even with Rev. Jesse Jackson making an appearance on one episode.

So while The Cosby Show stayed away from racial politics of any sort, A Different World grazed those issues, but in an assimilationist fashion.

So in reality both shows were just as much propagandist in nature as any other show on television. This time it was for middle class Blacks. And in many cases it worked, due to the lack of approaching racial politics among everyday life for Blacks, especially the ones who don't make it to college for whatever reasons. But in tap dancing around those issues, it created the sense in White people that White supremacy and privilege doesn't really exist, and Blacks are just victimizing themselves, asking for handouts.

 Then there's the issue of Dr. Alvin Poussaint, who acted as the consultant for the two latter of Dr. Bill's shows, as well as co-written a book with Dr. Bill entitled C'mon On People...aimed at who? Poor Blacks of course. But just who is Dr. Alvin Poussaint? Well he's a psychiatrist from....

Hold up...Hold up...HOOOOOLD UPPP!

Dost thou not smelleth something fishy in thy nostrils?

What's the relationship between a psychiatrist and a sitcom? There shouldn't be any, at least until you read the book The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard, and begin to make the connection.

The symbol manipulators and their research advisers have developed their depth views of us by sitting at the feet of psychiatrists and social scientists (particularly psychologists and sociologists) who have been hiring themselves out as "practical" consultants or setting up their own research firms. Pg 34

 Dr. Poussaint's take on the working relationship was that he was commisioned to go through the scripts, because the majority of the writers were WHITE, and make sure that there were no nuances or hints of racial stereotyping in the script. Sounds pretty decent right? Dr. Poussaint has openly admitted that many of the Whites in Hollywood are racist, but he only says that within the confines of other cohorts who make that claim as well. I don't recall any real discussion on any major network, including Dr. Bill's favorite network, NBC, about the racism in Hollywood. In a discussion entitled Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood and Corporate Power, he had this to say:

I worked in media and often I was surprised. Sometimes very intelligent, mostly white writers, college graduates, held stereotypes about a lot of people. When they wrote them into stories they would write it in a stereotypic point of view. It's like they didn't know any other way to write it. Because frequently they were not involved in a social personal way with Blacks, Latinos or Asian-Americans. And so when they had to write something about them, they had to draw on what they knew and frequently what they knew was what they picked up from the media and frequently that was stereotypical.

Regarding the Disney cartoon moive Tarzan: ...Kids in Africa see it. They see a white man in African who is superior, swinging from trees to trees, they see no Africans. They see gorillas being the ones they relate to. What does it mean to an African child? Is it promoting white supremacy to these Black African children who watch Tarzan in a movie theater in Africa? Of course it will, and it might be promoting it around the world.

 So basically you have this actor who realizes the power of the media in brainwashing and mind manipulation, so much so that he would employ a Black psychiatrist to check the scripts and red flag any nuances that may refer to racial stereotyping, but yet his books and public tirades are hurled against the Black victims? Why do the both of them continue to work together and write books together slamming the actions of the victim, but not notate in public the actions of the aggressor? Do you see my point?

The only time I heard him rail against any actors were against the likes of Martin Lawrence and Jamie Foxx for their impersonations of Shenehneh and Ugly Wanda, but now I don't even hear that against the likes of Tyler Perry and his Madea impersonations, and Tyler CONTINUES to use this schtick, which has helped make him into arguably the most successful Black male actor/producer in history, but yet there's no tirade against him? What's the deal, Bill? Why not speak against the actors of today? Why not speak against Lupita's role in 12 Years A Slave, or any of these other roles that were meant to demean and stereotype Blacks, like you did Lisa Bonet when she did Angel Heart?

Surely they are educated enough to know the sordid history of Hollywood and the Academy Awards. http://realquwwa.blogspot.com/2014/03/my-baloney-has-first-nameits-o-s-c-r.html Isn't it obvious that these two men, who strut around wearing their doctor titles and claim to be educated, should know that the actions of the poor Blacks are no different than those of Whites during the Depression.? Were they not fighting over alcohol? Were there not White gangsters during that time?  I mean Al Capone wasn't Black to my recollection. And the likes of him were ABOVE THE LAW. Where is it written that the actions of Whites during the Depression were any different? Was crime lesser with them? Where is their evidence which points to the discrepancies among poor Blacks as opposed to poor Whites? Were domestic abuse and prostitution any less with them? Didn't they use dance marathons, drugs, movies and gambling as a means of escape as well? Were the spending habits of poor Whites any different? If so, then why would an executive make this statement, also contained in the book The Hidden Persuaders:

"We can sell these people refrigerators. They may not have room for them, and they will put them on the front porch. They will buy a big automobile and all the luxuries, but they never move up the scale."
—Chicago ad executive, at a forum on lower-class buying habits

 Surely both men should know these things, unless their degrees are only symbolic,  or they are playing the role of "not biting the hand that feeds them", or they are willingly playing a game with people's minds, and engaging in engineering consent of genocide and elimination of the poor and downtrodden masses of Black people.

Now there's word of a new sitcom starring this man slated for possibly the 2014 fall season. One only knows what type of tricks this man has up his sleeves now. My best suggestion is that he quits while he thinks he's ahead.

My Baloney Has A First Name...It's O-S-C-A-R!

Why Halle have to let a white man pop her to get a Oscar? Why Denzel have to be crooked before he took it?

 


These are the words from a popular rap song entitled "Why?" performed by Jadakiss, asking the question why do Blacks have to play the most demeaning roles in order to be recognized by the Academy Awards. The song raised important questions that still resonate among some Blacks in regards to the stereotypical nature of Hollywood, yet in today's so-called Colorblind Society, this is propagated as "haterism" or "jealous", which people throw aside quickly, seeing that Blacks seem to have made progress in America.

Now the latest PBG(Pretty Black Girl) Lupita Nyong'o is all the rave among Hollywood and social media, and with the "achievement" of her Academy Award for her role as a slave and constant rape victim named Patsey in the Academy Award winning film "12 Years A Slave", her brand is now brighter than ever before. I can't seem to go a day or even an hour without checking my FB page and seeing all of the posts and images of how beautiful she is, look at her, you go girl comments from Black women, pictures of her walking alongside White actors and actresses up and down Hollywood, which gives Black women the feeling of accomplishments, progress and intergration, and the idea of not having to deny your Blackness in order to accomplish goals in America.

But is that what we're really seeing here, especially when we take a look at the latest winners and nominees in the last few years, or are we seeing a disturbing pattern that very few are willing to recognize?

This gentlemen here seems to think otherwise. I captured this tweet from one of my FB friends, which started a brief discussion( at least on her post), but others commented on a another post with the usual claims of "steady bitchin" and probably threw in some hater quotes in there too. But let's take a close look at what this gentleman is alleging and let's see if there is some merit to his post.

Let's start with Hattie McDaniel's role in the 1939 movie Gone With The Wind,  a docile maid who although she scolded some of the characters, did not countermand or go against the mistress, Scarlett O' Hara. The movie doesn't show anything about Tara's life outside of being a plantation maid. The movie also casts Butterfly McQueen as a maid, a role which she herself says she didn't like because it was demeaning, especially with the stereotypical catchphrase "I don't know nothin' bout birthin babies." Hattie tried to take the mammy schtick out on the road after the GWTW success, but Blacks weren't having it. On this discussion on FB, one African American woman replied that she would rather win an award as a maid than to play a Black whore around a bunch of Black men. I quickly replied to her that in essence there is no difference between the two, seeing that the slavemaster would sleep with his maids if he wished, and gave her the example of the double-standard of Josephine Baker, and recollected all of the accolades she was given for the strip tease dances she would perform onstage while White men in safari suits stood back and let her do her thing, yet hip hop video queens are chided and ridiculed for doing the same thing around Black men. I still ask what is the difference? I surely don't see any. The illusion of inclusion truly clouds many minds.

We all know Halle Berry's win for her role in the 2001 movie Monster's Ball, where she plays a woman who sleeps with one of her husband's executioners, played by Billy Bob Thornton. We've all seen in some fashion the teary-eyed, overly emotional acceptance speech she gave at the Academy Awards. One has to ask oneself, what did she do that was so deserving of a Best Actress Award in a movie about a Black woman sleeping with a Southern hick officer who help executes her Black husband? I mean really? Halle, who has also received criticism from the Black community for "abandoning Black men" after she claimed in an Ebony article that she would never again marry, only to be found engaged to two different Europeans, is quite a study in exploitation and stereotypes of the Black woman. All one has to do is factor in this movie, as well the movie Swordfish, which has her stripping down to her undies in front of two White men, which she claims in an interview that she felt that her participation in that movie took Black women's sexuality to a direction where it had never been before...Are you freakin' kidding me? Read the interview right here. http://cinema.com/articles/471/swordfish-interview-with-halle-berry.phtml

Halle also gets the dubious distinction, in my opinion, of portraying the skankiest Catwoman character ever... I'm sorry, but I didn't see Anne Hathaway play Catwoman that way, and her outfit definitely was not as trashy either...call me a hater if you wish.

Let's move on to Mo'Nique and her Academy Award winning role as an abusive ghetto mother in the movie Precious, which was also nominated for Best Picture in 2010 as well. Again I ask, what is so significant and complex about playing an abusive, single Black ghetto drama queen that Mo'Nique is given an award? Isn't this the same woman who a few years earlier played a stereotypical, man-chasing, self-absorbed ignorant mother on the series The Parkers? In 2009 it was alleged that she owned the rights to Hattie McDaniels' story. Somehow she too thinks that portraying slaves and demeaning roles and winning an award for it is an accomplishment...Go figure. The illusion of inclusion truly runs deep.

Then there's Denzel Washington, Mr. Classy himself, who was nominated in his stellar role in Malcolm X(1992), a movie produced by Spike Lee,  but missed out somehow to Al Pacino. Now back in the day I would've blown a gasket for that film not receiving an award, but then again, I didn't know back then what I know now, especially after Denzel wins an award for portraying a demented, crooked cop on the take in the movie Training Day(2001). If you're not seeing a pattern here, something's wrong with you.

But let's go further...

Remember that movie Hustle and Flow, a 2005 movie starring Terrence Howard? He received a nomination for playing a pimp/hustler turned rapper named DJay. Now I want to say something before I go further here. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and did not mind the songs in the film, created by a rap group Three 6 Mafia, because I understood the subject matter and the songs Whoop That Trick and It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp, which the latter won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. In the context of the movie, I have no problem. But taken away from the movie, it could come across as something different, so my question is why is that song nominated and chosen as Best Original Song? Given the hypermasculine roles given to Black men in films and music, and also seeing movies like Coonskin and Fritz The Cat and the HBO series The Wire which were passed off as social commentary depicting Blacks in some of the most demeaning fashions,  one cannot help but sense something fishy here. I mean if a Black organization were to give it accolades because it depicted a real life story of marginalized Black people, cool....But this song is selected by people who probably never ventured into inner cities unless they've experienced trying to pick up prostitutes and drugs in these areas. Especially if the allegations are true, that anywhere between 60-75% of rap audiences are White Males, especially between the ages of 18-34. It should make you think something fishy is going on here.

Then there's Ray(2004), where actor Jamie Foxx won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the late musician Ray Charles. While Ray was commended for overcoming his drug problems, his life was certainly not the one you would want to show as a stand up human being, especially with his extramarital affairs. And what is one of the main complaints that has been typecasted of Black men? The inability to commit, irresponsibility, being disrespectful of women, cheating on their wives. One would ask the question if the person was a rapper, would he garner the same respect?  Some people were even under the impression that all of the accolades were heaped upon him due to his illness, including the Grammy award given for his last album before his death.

BUT WAIT...We have The Last King of Scotland (2006), a British film based on a fictional novel, starring Forest Whitaker, who won the Oscar for playing Idi Amin, a Ugandan dictator. This film, like 12 Years A Slave, was produced by Fox Searchlight, which castes a dubious distinction here as well. So now we have Africans portraying roles of African American slaves and wenches, and African Americans portraying crazed African dictators...All from the same production company, and winning Academy Awards for their roles, and still nobody sees anything wrong with this. Truly the illusion of inclusion runs deep.

What makes LKOS so bad is that it's mixed with fiction and actual events, but in an image based society, nobody reads or reads with comprehension. They watch movies and what does this movie show? White guy goes to Africa, gets laid by the native women, in typical African women fashion, 'cause you know they're nymphos, right? Gets next to crazed dictator, finds out he's not all he's cracked up to be, sleeps with dictator's wife, 'cause you know African women are nymphos, right? Finds out dictator slices up wife, dude gets tortured by dictator, manages to escape with his life,  the end. And you wonder why I'm not eager to even watch 12 Years A Slave. So now people can get away with mixing true events and fiction, and it makes a splash at the movies, and African American actors don't see anything wrong with this.

Then there's Will Smith in The Pursuit Of Happyness....I don't even want to go there with that one, because the title of the film tells you what's missing here. What happened to the right to live, which also means the right to have access to a decent quality of life, which is not what this country lives up to? This "personal achievement" actually came at the cost of his wife, who left him after not being able to live in squalor, which didn't make her come out of this movie on a good note either.

So when we get to this years' winners 12 Years A Slave and Lupita Nyong'o, one should not be amazed at the growing amount of discontent among some Blacks who have seen enough slave movies and movies that put Blacks in a marginalized position as incompetent, criminal, and inferior...It also castes a bad reflection of living in an image based society, where as Dr. Gail Dines puts it,  most people are image illiterate, and do not understand the subliminal messages laid out by Hollywood and corporations. I mean instead of ooooing and aaahing over Lupita, why isn't anyone really looking at the theme behind the movie, which basically means no matter how you may claim yourself as free, a Black person is not truly free in this country? And why could they not make a movie about the Dred Scott case? Is it because they can't concentrate on Black women getting raped in a film like that? Now do a movie about Dred Scott, and I might see it, unless Fox Searchlight produces it....and by the way let's not forget the other nominee Burkhad Abdi, the Somali actor who was nominated for his role as a PIRATE in Captain Phillips. Just looks like Black people really are inferior from Hollywoods' standpoint.

All in all, these awards don't mean anything to me anymore.They're just props and PR gadgets if you ask me.

Oscar really has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A.  www.qartworks.com

X'd Out Again? My opinions on the recent Malcolm X controversies.

Peace all, Let's skip the chit chat and let's get down to business, OK? First my apologies for what may seem to many to be a late blog, seeing that we are now living in the age where "news" is trendy, and people are now given the impression that things work in a vacuum, or at least are considered "isolated". I assure you although this bit of "news" is about a few weeks old, it all ties into a much bigger picture. And allthough I thought of speaking frankly about Nicki Minaj's song Lookin' Ass Nigga, I hesitated much, one because of my procrastination, but also because I witness more "knee jerk" reactions when news hits the air nowadays. We tend to take the little information we feel we know, and then comment right away based on what we have at that moment. I for one think this is planned by the main press. However, if there is anything that 9/11 has taught us, especially for those who do not believe the official story, is to research, research, research before coming to conclusions that affect the masses of people.

The controversy surrounding Nicki Minaj's song with the Malcolm X picture is one of many attempts to distort the name and the legacy of the late Al-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz, better know as Malcolm X. Although she supposedly apologized and removed the image, stating that this was a conversation piece and was not the official first song off the album, it still poses as a marketing tactic that Michael Lindstrom, author of Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use To Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us To Buy, says that Calvin Klein used in 1995 when it pulled its controversial ad after an uproar from the public, and even the federal government.  In his opinion it really didn't matter that CK apologized and pulled the ad , because the controversy surrounding it and the attention it garnered was the main focus. It didn't adversely affect CK's bottom line in the end, and I don't think this incident will affect Nicki's bottom line either, seeing that many who were disgusted with the song and image most likely don't buy her work to begin with, and not to mention it won't affect the sponsorship she gets from "old money." Her target audience probably doesn't know a thing about Malcolm and what he stood for, nor the background behind the image. But I'll discuss that issue later.

 How many of us remember what happened around the same time of this controversy? You know In Queens, NY? The issue involving the teacher who barred her students from writing any reports about Malcolm because she thought that he was a bad man? How many of us who may have heard or read the article noticed that the elementary teacher who made the remarks was nowhere to be mentioned by name in ANY ARTICLE? Nor was the teacher even interviewed by any media who covered the story? Doesn't that sound strange to you, that the accused is not mentioned nor interviewed as to why they would make such remarks?

Many people have forgotten so quickly about the book Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, a book written by Manning Marable, a book that caused so much controversy because of its claims that Malcolm had a homosexual encounter in his hustler day, as well as allegations of having a tumultous marriage life with Betty Shabazz, especially with his busy schedule, among other claims. I didn't read the book at all after hearing what some of the book entails, simply because I didn't believe that I wanted to read a so called definitive book entitled A Life of Reinvention about a man who died in 1965, only to have supposed stark revelations 45-46 years AFTER his death? I don't think it would've taken the American press THAT LONG to dig up dirt on such an important figure.

And to think this book won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012, despite the criticism received from his children and close associates? So who's really behind this?

Well deeper research brings up a figure by the name of Wendy Wolf, a self proclaimed progressive who is the editor and publisher of Viking Books, who went on a tour touting this book and the supposed craftsmanship of a writer such as Manning Marable. However after listening to her make statements about Malcolm's "native" intelligence, and her own admission that she did not read the book in its' entirety due to the fact that it "scared" her, one must ask oneself would a person publish a book which castes a good light on a man that they practically can't stand?

 By now if you're still reading this, you're probably thinking "ok, another person claiming conspiracy" and to each it's own. I just think something smells fishy when one recollects the recent events and put them together. Why is this man hated so? Why is there an attempt to either distort the name and what he stood for, or at least neutralize his influence, which one can bear witness when one looks at the number people he influenced from the former members of the Nation of Islam to the international love he gets from within and outside the Muslim World, the white Muslims who point to his autobiography as a major influence in their becoming Muslim, to the ever growing love and support from the Hip Hop Community?

But I have an even more pressing question. In light of the events that's going on in America, with gentrification all over the place, the growing discontent for America's first Black President, the killing, miseducation, disenfranchisement and incarceration of Black people, especially Black Men beyond the likes of Trayvon, Oscar and Jordan, with the drone strikes and security breaches and invasion of privacy going on in a global fashion, why do we see these sporadic attacks on a man who's been dead for 49 years? Why would an unnamed teacher seek to dissaude their students from writing about such a figure if old people are supposed to be "irrelevant"? Or are they really sporadic? Are they controlled in the press as to what, when and how we receive such information?

 Is it because he represents a  dramatic transformation from hustler to a well respected world figure for human rights and self sufficiency, instead of a figurehead that's controlled by old money and corporations, who seeks to intergrate with a society who feels and teaches the inherent inferiority of Blacks? Is it because he saw the false empathy from White Liberals, and made many statements against the likes of them, for example in an open roundtable he made this statement in 1961:

  Most of your white liberals who profess to love Negroes and who profess to be pushing for this integration thing, they themselves live as a rule in lily-white neighborhoods and sometimes they’re the first ones to put the FOR SALE sign on their door when a Negro who has fallen for this integration thing moves into their neighborhood. I think that it’s very hypocritical today for me as a black man and the white man to sit down with each other and pro fess that there is a great deal of love between us. 

  Or another statement: ...no the Jews are the ones who usually represent themselves as white liberals. More so probably than any other segment of this society. Now if the Jews are genuinely liberal and they want to help the Negro, then they should show the Negro how to use the same kind of strategy and tactics to solve his problem that they used to solve their problems. And you’ll find that all over this country, wherever the Jews have been segregated and Jim Crowed, they haven’t sat in, they haven’t been sittin’ or Freedom Riders, they usually go and use the economic weapon. They bought Atlantic City, and now they can go there. They bought Miami Beach and now they can go there.

  Or another statement: We see masses of Black people who are thoroughly fed up with the deceit of the so-called white liberals, or the white so-called liberals. White liberals who have posed as our friends, white liberals who have been eager to point out what the white man in the South is doing to our people there, while they themselves are doing the same thing to us here in the North.

Why isn't he projected as an example for all of the young Black hustlers as a vehicle for transformation and reformation? Why do we have to keep hearing Dr. King's speeches about I have a dream, which was about intergration, and not about Black people's quest for justice, human rights and independence? Is intergration going to make these young men pull up their pants, start respecting their elders and become more responsible, and not lead lives that will either have them in prison or dead? I think not.

Or, do we really want to see transformation or reformation among young Black men or in the Black community? That's my real question.... www.qartworks.com

Fish and Chips 2

Peace all....

After a couple of weeks away from it all, I come back to the blog feeling refreshed, and ready to let loose on an array of topics. Little did I know that I would be bombarded with subject matter that would kinda distract me from the blogs I had initially planned, but no biggie, I mean after all, I planned to do a blog on the controversial show Scandal, which has the African American community in an uproar, dividing lines especially amongst the genders, ranging from topics about interracial dating, and most of all does the show depict African American women in a stereotypical manner, as hypersexual, power-hungry, scandalous women whose ultimate quest in regards to relationships is with a priviliged White male. I want to delve deeper into this highly emotionally charged subject because I believe strongly that nothing happens in a vacuum, especially in terms of the media, which Gunnar Myrdhal contended in his book American Dilemna: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, is a very important link in regards to information and the education of diverse ethnic groups in America.  If this is so, we are in trouble Black people.

Then this issue popped up....

Meet the latest concession in America's Colorblind Society, Sasheer Zamata, who is now lauded as the latest Black female cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live late night television show. Zamata comes in at a peculiar moment, after SNL received flack for "lack of diversity" especially after cast member Kenan Thompson's alleged statement about Black women not being "funny enough" to make the show. Then we had the Kerry Washington episode, which I have no earthly idea what that was about either, except maybe it was a half-hearted attempt by NBC and SNL to mock their own insensitivities.

So I did a little research on Sasheer, and came across a few videos, and after watching Pursuit of Sexiness Pt 1 and More Great Moments in Black Hipstery, I became even more convinced of the constant perpetuation of Black stereotypes broadcasted by all forms of media throughout the globe, continuing this hideous portrayal of Blacks as hypersexual, native, excessive, inferior creatures having little or no understanding at all about the essentials of life, only looking for material things to compensate for their lack of intellect or mores.

Even more troubling was the caption I read below the Pursuit of Sexiness video which reads:

Best friends and troublemakers(incompetent, wretched, aloof) Nicky(played by African American actress Nicole Byer) and Sheer are broke, single, and (adorably!) self-absorbed. They're looking for good men(no black men are in the first video), easy money(golddiggers) and free meals(cheap) but would be satisfied to break even and find a guy who doesn't prematurely ejaculate(hypersexual). It's life, liberty and the pursuit of sexiness. How freakin' convenient. Multiple stereotypes of Black women laid out in just a few sentences. I mean come on now, NOBODY sees this?


I won't even mention the double standards that Blacks put on each other, because if this was done by a Black male, especially a rapper, I shudder at the thought of all of the cries of misogyny from Black women...well maybe I did just mention it.

How can this obvious form of self degradation of a marginalized people be seen  as an accomplishment, ala Kerry Washington's fame from Scandal? Looking at the comments on Youtube by both Black and White, one can only see a troublesome future in race relations for both communities. I mean as Blacks finally begin to understand the inconsistencies of America's Colorblind Society, which still have Blacks and Latinos as the most incarcerated, under-educated, most-profiled, least tended to by the state, resulting in an ever-declining quality of life, they throw another bone, and we eat it up, and give kudos to the performers who will in turn muffle out the cries of the marginalized, whom they've made fun of, all for a few dollars, and five minutes of fame on the front cover of Ebony and Jet. Did SNL hire her based on her "merits" or because of her ability to continue lampooning and demeaning a people, and to silence the critics in the process? All I know is that it doesn't look to good from where I'm standing. Reporting Live From Edgeville.

Fish and Chips Pt. 1

peace all, been a long time since blogging about things going on, but felt this one had to land on my blog. This year's been very interesting for me and my art. What looked like a great first half of the year came to a halt, beginning with being laid off from a contract because of complaints. What were the complaints? Wasn't told to me nor the agency, but one look at me and my beard and what I represent, and there is no need for more questions. Discrimination is rearing it's ugly head, or should I say becoming more obvious is this colorblind, multicultural society of different beliefs, ethnicities, and other walks of life...I can't believe I actually said such a thing without getting sick.

 I took a long hiatus from a lot of things, especially art, until I decided to come back stronger than before, I created a couple of pieces and submitted them to a juried art exhibit that I felt was liberal and open to ideas and subjects, especially since they feigned interest in showing my last work, Portrait of My Hood, which depicted the marginalization of inner city residents, neglecting their needs for a decent quaility of life, and setting them up for gentrification, among other heinous crimes of humanity, but I guess being Black or people of color in general is still not a real concern for America, huh? This gallery, which moved to another location in North Dallas, held another exhibit in which they entitled CONTAINED, and claimed that they didn't mind loose interpretations of containment. Well, seeing that they seemed to love my work, I hit 'em with two blows to the head, entitled Complex I and Ghetto Ingredients, the latter can be seen on my website as a featured piece by clicking HERE.

Complex I deals with inferiority complexes among African Americans, and it's manifestations of self-hatred , which is a by product of institutionalized racism from all aspects of American society, and to cap it off, in the background is the symbol from the controversial bestseller The Bell Curve, which I won't go into it's own critique at this momemt. Recently I have discovered that some people have attempted to give it the name Colorism, because it deals within the African American race. However when one fully researches the issue, it appears to be a misnomer, placing the blame solely on African Americans, omitting the root cause of the problem, which is racism, supplying misleading information by mentioning slavery as the root cause, and giving a false impression that slavery is over, and therefore the lingering "colorism" that is displayed in African Americans is another form of proof of Blacks' supposed "intellectual inferiority" and lack of reasoning. I wanna take this time out to thank Oprah Winfrey and others who propogate this nonsense in an effort to stay away from truly holding those person/s/entities responsible for the pathological brainwashing of people of color.

Well any, back to the subject at hand...I received a letter of rejection from the gallery, which put it so lovely that while they enjoyed my work, it just didn't make the cut...oh ducky... I kinda figured that since this gallery was moving to another area inside of a mall which renovated it's second floor and rented many floors to artists as "studios" the subject matter would be mainly escapism, which is the word of the day in the art world. Unfortunately this would be the same word for African American artists too, as I have also discovered in my travails this year into the art world. But I take it all in stride...God(Allah) is still in control....Part 2 later...

Shutdowns, Breakdowns and Meltdowns (Part 2)

peace all, I was contemplating whether or not to continue this blog over the weekend, however things happen that sorta leave you in a state of getting it out there sooner than later. Faced with constant letdowns(which probably should be included in my blog title), it looks like another letdown is coming up soon, as events and exhibits keep coming thru with opportunities to exhibit my work, yet due to a lack of funds to pay for entry fees, looks like I'll be out of these exhibits, which seemed to be promising to say the least. The theme of one such event was Thinking INSIDE the box, rather than outside the box, which defined the theme as anything that contains, holds, or traps and so on...What an excellent opportunity to showcase my work, especially my ongoing Lifestyles of the Ignored Series, or so I thought...Looks like I'm not going to meet the deadline for that exhibit nor the TVAA Exhibit in November, which the theme is collage, something I'm really getting into, plus I has a piece entitled Blood, Sweat and Mostly Tears that I wanted to present there, seeing that it's a big hit over in my area, focusing on events surrounding the community, where the poor(like me) are faced with ever-fading job opportunities to take care of themselves in a decent fashion, yet finding the most ridiculous advertisments in the so-called Employment guides calling for people with mental illnesses and domestic issues to offer themselves up for research, and being compensated(or so they say) for their participation. Oh well...

So here I sit in front of my computer, listening to some beats I made and checking the employment ads again to see who can I send my resume to, so they can call and feign interest in my services, until the next discrepancy shows up on my resume, like the lack of employment in the last 3 years...Uhh ruh, if nobody hires you, what do you do?

Which leads me to another subject I wanted to touch on, this crap about the government shutting down over issues like Obamacare, or I'm sorry, Affordable Health Care....People are up in arms about this, but I gotta question...If you have no money, or not enough to cover your basic necessities like food, clothing and shelter, how does supposed affordable health care help you? You gotta take your hat off to these corporations who continually find a way to trick people, and we continue to suck it all up. Now I'm being hit with mailers from this insurance group and that insurance group, as if I can AFFORD affordable health care...oh boy...us poor folks knew what this shutdown was about to begin with, along with the supposed clinics and doctors shutting down their operations...Poor people and especially people of color have always been a pain in the side for most of the medical industry...seems to them like our color of our skin and/or social status is a clear indication of our supposed inferiority....y'all remember that book entitled "The Bell Curve"? Saw a billboard last week stating TEXAS LAW REQUIRES college students to take a meningitis vaccine...It never ends does it? The Lifestyles of the Ignored continues... until next time..... www.qartworks.com

Shutdowns, Breakdowns and Meltdowns (Part 1)

Peace all, Writing this blog from a personal standpoint can be therapeutic at times, and sometimes it can become more of a hindrance than good. It really depends on the mood that I'm in, which has been shifting constantly in the past few months. What started out as good and promising has turned completely upside down, and my mood changes have become more obvious than ever, and so has my language. Obviously something is not the same with me. Right now I'm sitting on the floor of the library, which has now become a familiar spot with me, multitasking as usual, not being able to get a single task done. I used to think that my lack of concentration or lack of focusing on getting one task done was due to my scatterbug nature. That was until a couple of weeks ago I was looking up an issue on the interest regarding depression and anxiety. Once I read the symptoms, I stopped wondering about the other person and started looking at myself. It's no secret that I've suffered from depression, especially when one reads previous posts I've written in the past, especially in regards to some of the escapades I've experienced in the high stress call center environment, however I did not realize what I was doing was due to a depressing state. I thought I had it managed pretty well ya know? Whenever I became depressed I would find myself walking throughout the neighborhood, sometimes equipped with my headphones and MP3 player and sometimes not, only to come back home somewhat refreshed, but it's reached epic proportions now. It came to a head this past July while doing contract work for a company. I was helping to move computers and networking hardware, not harming anyone at anytime, thinking that after working a couple of weeks here I could earn a nice amount of money to hold me down until something more permanent or more lasting comes along. Things didn't look so promising after the first couple of days as the two men who headed the project were behind in their duties, leaving the contractors with very little to do the first couple of days, so we were made to leave early. On the following Wednesday, I received word that my services would no longer be needed, as I was told that a couple of people complained about me, but he would not go into detail about the nature of the complaint. In reality he didn't have to, I've been discriminated and profiled against too many times to act like I don't know the reasons why I'm being treated in such fashion. The funny thing was although I was told some people complained against me, the agency I worked for was not told such things, only don't send me back to the site. I immediatedly told the recruiter what I feel was the issue, and I explained that I'm Muslim and I do have a full beard, but that in no way has been or will be a detriment to my work ethic or my reputation as a honest, law abiding citizen. Being African American and Muslim has given me the upclose opportunity to see first hand how ignorance and racism has and will continue to pull this country down, while it's citizens point fingers everywhere except the right places to hold the right people accountable, meanwhile people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds continue to suffer at the hands of someone else's stupidity. It hasn't stopped there. This discrimination has taken on new forms, such as an agency calling me a couple of weeks inquiring, or should I say profiling me about a position I had applied for. The recruiter seemed pleased with my resume, and then came the questions. NOPE, no felonies, no default on a college loan(although I fail to see how this should affect my status as one who is capable of troubleshooting computer equipment in the first place), no bad credit, except in the area of having a car repossessed three years ago, as a result of losing my job, making me unable to continue to pay on my car...so poverty becomes a punishment now huh? So now poverty is a character flaw instead of a socio-economic issue huh? One that renders the person into a caste of those who can't cut it? So much for the land of opportunity, huh? And they wonder why people go illegal? Matter of fact, I don't even think they even wonder about that, especially when conditions are created by these scavengers and parasites that leave those on the outskirts of society, scrappin' and scrapin' just trying to break even...They just feign concern...they don't really care... I'll continue this later....Peace out....www.qartworks.com

...seasons change

Peace all,

Summer's kicked off, and where am I you may ask? Well I'm up north, but only for a couple of days though. But it is a different atmosphere than in Dallas, especially with it being the month of Ramadhan, the holy month of fasting for the Muslims. When I got here I figured that I would not fast during my brief stay due to the travelling, but felt that well, maybe I would try Saturday, since it would be a full day. The biggest difference is that here sunrise begins around 3:30 AM!!!! So that's like an hour and a half difference as opposed to Dallas were it begins after 5AM. With that said, I missed my pre-fasting meal, and with the lack of sleep preparing for this trip, I decided that I will resume after I get back. I wish I could stay much longer,  I saw some excellent shots that I could've used, but my batteries needed recharging. waaah waah waaaaaaah.... Hopefully I'll be able to take some shots before I leave, but I have priorities back home...Maybe sometimes soon.

But before I left, I completed a display at my local library containing a few piece I'd finished, plus an additional piece I finished a day before leaving. The entire display is entitled Portraits of My Neighborhood, depicting the scenes that I see and wish to talk about in my area in Southeastern Dallas.

 The piece on the upper left hand is part of my Complex series, dealing with inferiority complexes in the African American communities, especially among color and class. Usually these talks are taboo in our neck of the woods, but somebody's gotta open up the discussions. It's touchy, but very needed that we get an honest discussion about internal issues as well, that is IF we want to grow and progress. Too many times people fall into the old mode of blaming those who did not follow the footsteps of the civil rights movement as the reason why Blacks are still behind in the social structures of America, but fail to look at the WHOLE picture.

 This was the first piece I did, I entitled it specifically Portrait of My Hood, which I exhibited in June's Uncensored exhibit at the Art Hotel, which resided in Downtown Dallas before their recent move to the Gallery at Midtown, in Valley View Mall. This piece has a collage on the sides, which depicted the many aspects in my area, from the lottery tickets, to condom boxes, cigar wrappers, and what have you. The collage on the bottom was my thinking, to give display a little ambience. I was a little hesitant you know, seeing that I was exhibiting things of a more mature theme, but after you see how the youth are behaving, I thought of it as a necessity to point out a few things. The other picture on the right was done in late 2012, where I used sgraffito with oil pastels. Came out nice, I think.

This piece on the right I finished it shortly before Thursday, as a complement to the other portrait, however I was unable to add any collage to it, due to the texture that I constructed on the piece, which didn't allow the pieces to stick consistently, so I just left it as it was.

So overall it's been a very interesting weekend, and it's looking up. On the downside one of my biggest and best supporters from the Highland Hills Library branch will be leaving, she'll be reassigned to another library, where she's making connections to have my work exhibited there as well. At least she'll be present for my project with the youth on July 27th. Ms. Almetta Russell has been very instrumental with my progression as a community artist, along with Ms. Letissa Milburn. They have both been in the trenches as far as the Dallas library branch is concerned, trying to get my work exposed through those channels. It's not easy being from my area, trying to break into certain arenas and bring a voice from the other side. But they've supported me, and I support my area to the fullest....This is just the beginning....

Reporting Live From Edgeville......PEACE OUT!!!

Good Night all.... www.qartworks.com

UPDATE: This blog was finished a few hours before the unsurprising verdict of George Zimmerman was handed down. My heart goes out to the Martin family or any family for that matter, but this was not a surprise in the least. At least for me it wasn't. I won't go into a long drawn out tangible over something that didn't surprise me in the least. If you've followed my blog you will know that I have put out articles from Democracy Now about the murders of the Sikhs in their temple, along with Kenneth Chamberlain, and the injustice he received, so it's no surprise that racism rears its' ugly head again, and reason goes out the window. I'm just surprised that a nation who continues to brag and boast about its intellectual prowess can't seem to figure out what type of crash course it's headed towards....oh well...some people gotta learn the hard way....peace out and THINK!