It's All Connected (But We Still Don't Get It)

 The more I reflect on the Brett Kavanaugh hearing going on at this moment, along with Bill Cosby being sentenced to prison, Jameis Winston being sued by the Uber driver, and other events  where men are accused of assault/rape, the more I keep going back to Serena Williams and the US Open controversy, which took place a couple of weeks ago. The world got to witness up close firsthand, uncut, live and in the flesh what happens when a woman accuses a man of sexism without evidence, which is slander,  and the reactions by those who support her without factoring in any evidence that points to the contrary.

  The following days proved that many of us missed the point altogether.

  It was an open and shut case that proved how human beings are not creatures of rationale, but creatures of emotions and desires. Emotions and desires are great, when used in the right context. But when love and hatred blinds one from seeing that which is clear and evident, there is no hope for truth, justice and guidance.

Artwork by Quwwa Davis, with digital assistance by S. Davis

  Serena Wlliams' antics at the US Open were only a continuum of the ongoing story of the mythological Champion of Women's Rights aka Feminism, that Serena has fallen victim to. This was not an isolated incident, nor was it the first time for her to rail against what she sees as sexism.

 When Serena was nominated as Sports Illustrated's  Sportperson of the Year in 2015, it marked a monumental point for feminism. Around this time we saw a rise in feminism, politically helped by the Obama administration( and no I'm not Republican either), and repeated over and over in the media, which lead to other token feminists getting their shine, especially the likes of Beyonce'. Remember the Super Bowl halftime show, and the preceding video "Formation"?

Around that time Serena seemed to began chanting more about advocating "women's rights" and dedicating her matches for "women's causes" and the like.

This past summer we found Serena at a "Purple Purse" event, advocating "awareness" against domestic abuse, a feminist pseudonym for men hitting women. When addressing the topic of domestic abuse, she calls for not only men, but boys to be educated about domestic abuse.. She  also uttered "That could be something my daughter could face and that's not cool." My question to her would be "what if your daughter is the perpetrator?"  Domestic abuse is not just men abusing women, but women abusing men as well. But we all know feminists don't see it that way.

This past summer we also found out #MeToo advocate and one of Harvey Weinstein's accusers Asia Argento has been accused of trying to pay off former child star Jimmy Bennett, for an alleged sexual assault incident occurring in 2015. The New York Times wrote an article about the incident, but quickly deflected the issue by proclaiming "men do it too", and reiterating their bogus claim that sexual assault and rape is about "power and gender". and not sexual mores.

  The parasitical MeToo and Times Up movements are misleading people, and merely exploiting those who have truly suffered from these traumatic experiences.  Under these quasi-justice organizations, the true victims are being relegated to the status of pawns, tokens, expendables and collateral damage in their so called war. The very moment they publicly stated rape, sexual assault/harrassment, and domestic abuse were issues of power and gender, and not declining sexual morals and morality in general, we should have known their intentions, but we failed. We dropped the ball.

  Some of those who disagreed with Serena's antics also dropped the ball by asserting race was implied. The infamous comic strip drawn by the Austrtailian cartoonist clearly accentuated stereotypical Black/African American features; big lips, large, volatile and angry women, yet it was insisted that race had nothing to do with the cartoon.

  Some broadcasters clearly accused her of also pulling out the race card, to which I did not hear any instances of race in her tirade, nor in the post-game press conference. Reviewing the clips will show she clearly stated she was trying to stand up for women's rights.  Instead of focusing on the fallacy of feminism, some people took it as part of a broader issue to attack what they call "identity politics" and "social justice"in the broader sense, and left wing politics, with multiculturalism being mentioned as well, a pseudonym for race-mixing.

   Frankly speaking, I don't see how she can rage against racism, or especially White Male Privilege, seeing that she's married to a White man anyway. If anything,  Serena,  like Bill Cosby, Monique and other Black celebrities suffer from the illusion of inclusion.  This usually occurs after achieving some sort of mainstream acceptance, or adulation. It causes them to either give unbalanced and unfair criticism at poor Black people , while downplaying or avoiding racism and bigotry, or to harbor grandiose feelings toward one's personal achievement, and totally deny racism altogether. In the end, most of Serena's talking points, like feminism itself is mostly White liberal-influenced talking points.

  The masses of people are being misguided by those who desire something other than truth and justice, and here belied the opportunity to begin to detect and rectify the matter. It was served on a plate, for all to see, reflect, and begin to repair. But we turned it down. Instead we went to our colored corners, one corner blue, and the other corner red, listened to the pundits whisper in our ear, and came back out to the center of the ring, swinging away, and not hitting a darn thing.

We still don't get it.

What You Watchin' Common? A Response To Common's Comments About Obama's Legacy Pt 1.

Painting courtesy of the artist.

One of the lies we(Black people) tell ourselves is that we're making progress...We're 

not making progress. We tend to equate progress with concessions. We can no

longer make that mistake...

...There is no difference between the Democratic and the Republican Party. The 

similarities are greater than the differences in those parties. What's the 

difference between Lynch' em Johnson and Goldwater? None!

But a lot of you (Black people) running around, talking about you Democrat, 

and the Democrats got you in the biggest trick going! They tell you "it ain't our fault,

it's the Dixiecrats' (another way of saying Republican) fault!" There's no such thing as 

a Dixiecrat! The only difference between George Wallace and Lyndon Johnson is one 

of them's wife got cancer. But you go for it.  You go for it because you're chumps...

You enjoy being lied to...

Excerpts from a 1968 address to the Black Panthers by H. Rap Brown (now Imam Jamil Al-Amin)

For all intended purposes, I am a huge fan of  legendary rapper Common, and I thoroughly

enjoy most of his work, especially his 2014 album "Nobody's Smiling",  which I still rock to this day. At a time when Black youth are being socialized and conditioned to render any Black person dead or alive, and over the age of 30 as old, dead and/or irrelevant, while simultaneously rocking apparel with Marilyn Monroe's 1950's, old dead image plastered on it, I found it comforting that a legendary rapper produced a relevant and remarkable album about the plight of today's urban youth, especially in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, complete with guest appearances from younger contemporary rappers. This was achieved without trying too hard to sound "updated" or appeal to only a younger audience. I found it very insightful, and something that every music fan and art enthusiast should enjoy. 

I even found myself coming to his defense somewhat after the backlash concerning comments he made in a 2015 interview with former host of  The Daily Show Jon Stewart about Blacks "getting past the history of racism and slavery" by extending their hands in love, and not fists. This and other comments raised the ire of many Blacks, which led to calling Common names such as Uncle Tom, sellout, and mostly the word used so popularly now, coon.  While wildly disagreeing with his stance concering racism in America and how to deal with it, I can neither agree with the oversimplification and the dismissive nature of those who oppose his view by simple name calling, and especially a sellout, or a coon. It goes to show how those who utter these words ad nauseam do not have any idea what they mean.

Common's stance towards racism is a typical Black Christian stance, a passive, "turn-the-other-cheek" stance, which goes over well concerning both White conservatives and liberals' interests. Neither of the two can fathom the idea of Blacks and other people of color or minorities going beyond mere marching, singing and voting, and becoming more aggressive and even militant in seeking justice from a country which has basically turned a deaf ear to the cries of the slain and marginalized.

But what worries me about Common, as well as others who uphold this approach is the lack of understanding of who really benefits from constantly turning the cheek at those who continue  to strike, maim, and kill Blacks without any impunity. It's not about Blacks wanting mere "payback" or "getback",  or "kill Whitey" but there is nothing in place in this country to deter these hateful people from committing these heinous crimes. Years of singing "all you need is love" and passing ineffective hate crime and civil rights bills have produced nothing, at least for Black people, and in particular Black men. 

While he and others like to push Dr. Martin Luther King's philosophy of non-violence, even at the expense of self-defense, it seems that it only encourages the aggressors to amplify their "terror" (YEAH I SAID IT...TERROR!) and terrorism. The reality remains that these actions stem from a ideological belief, and only the removing of these racial fallacies that encourage racists and bigots to disenfranchise and slaughter those who they deem inferior and blame for the moral decay of the nation( nevermind the statistics proving otherwise) will begin the process of healing. Love cannot conquer hate, despite what Marvin Gaye said. 

NOTE: I didn't mean to go this far into depth concerning Common's past comments on The Daily Show, however after careful consideration I felt I had to elaborate further on it, due to the emergence of a peculiar pattern that seems to land Common on shows like The Daily Show, and recently Chelsea, with host Chelsea Handler, which provides Blacks who hold similar views a platform to broadcast their "views" and "opinions". In reflecting on this I'm reminded of a statement 

by Frances Stoner Saunders in her book The Cultural Cold War which stated;

"The most effective propaganda was defined by the CIA as the kind where the subject moves to the position you desire, but for reasons he believes to be his own."

. 

Seems like a long time ago when Mos Def (now Yasiin Bey) boldly declared on Bill Maher's show that Osama Bin Laden was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Nowadays Bill spends time talking about "radical Muslims" and "terrorists" with panels of people, and not one of them will include an

actual Muslim. Which makes Common's appearances on these shows nowadays all the more suspect. And no I'm not calling him an agent. 

Now let's get to the heart of the matter....


PART 2 COMING SOON....

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

...Sweet Sorrow

Peace all, Yesterday was one of those days you wish you could capture it on camera, well at least I wish I did....lol. There was a series of events that gave me optimism and a better perspective on things and how I should approach my upcoming project Down Here on the Ground. .

But first let me tell you about my entry into Borders' Book Store, which brought me back to the old days.For those unaware of the situation, Borders' Bookstore is going out of business, and are now in the process of liquidating all assets, even the bookshelves. It didn't hit me until I walked up to the door and noticed from looking thru the window that the cappucino bar with all of its Wi-Fi capabilities were gone, just a bunch of tables lay scattered all across the area. As I walked into the doors for what will likely be my last time there, I saw that all of the materials had been pushed to the front. In the background an old James Brown classic Papa Don't Take No Mess piped through. I didn't know they had it in them. As I looked throughout the barren areas in the back, I felt a presence of sadness, well at least for me that is, I mean I could never be ranked among the best customers there, but it's just the whole idea of a bookstore closing down that gets me. Call me a sentimentalist, aren't all artists? Anyway, the books had discounts ranging from 60 to 80% off. WHOA!!!!!! DOUBLE WHOA!!!! TRIPLE WHOA!!!!


So what does a brother like me do? Take advantage of the opportunity? I WISH....LOL...I mean in these lean and trim times I had to pass up the opportunity. It wasn't easy though, I mean where else will you find books originally sold for $27 become drasticatically reduced to like 5 or 7 dollars? And the selection was one to go GAGA over(no pun intended). First I found a book entitled The Fifteen Biggest Lies the Right Does Not Want You to Know About Taxes, Jobs, and Corporate America, then I saw Dark Alliance....ooooooh, this is the one I've been looking for, about how the CIA collabed with drug dealers to the sell crack in the inner city of Los Angeles, all to fund a clandestine war in Nicaragua...then I found Bought and Paid For: The Unholy Alliance Between Obama and Wall Street ooooooh, man, I started calculating right away....let's just say I hadn't found so many that I wanted to cop all at once.

The only thing I couldn't get with was the "sexy" fishing magazine they had on the magazine shelf, I mean when did women think so low of themselves nowadays to allow their bodies to be exploited to sell fish magazines? I mean imagine a woman in sexy lingerie holding a prize winning bass....and the slogan read "Putting more throb in your rod" Have we stooped that low as a society?

This picture is a little more lame than the one I found on the front page. The back page had a totally naked lady hiding her breasts with her arms and with certain balls covering her private areas. God Help Us.

But alas instead of indulging, priorities came first, especially when I look down and the shiny silver Reebok running shoes I found for little or nothing now show serious signs of wear and tear, especially at the sole, where the front portion started separating from the shoe itself, making my "rims" look as if it was sticking its tongue out whenever I walked....sniff...sniff...

Thankfully I found that the library had all three books, so I requested them all, but I like to own my materials, especially books like these....Someday God Willing I'll get them. But this is a final tribute to Borders' Bookstore and my "rims" my shiny silver Reebok shoes...you've served your purpose well.....KUDOS...Parting is such sweet sorrow.....Peace.