Well, I feel you, but...
I'm not buying it.
C'mon dog, I can run all the academic and economic rah-rah just like you, but so what. When we get together for a games of spades (or better yet, tunk), then we can trade cards. Still "it" matters. The diff. between John Wayne & john q. public is that John Wayne has POWER due to his fame. Sure, we've all got power, but fame and wealth definately do increase one's reach.
crosstudio said:
Flo' Dolo,
i'm not going to act like i have a problem with you because i don't. we are all allowed our interpretations of real life. socialism does not work because lazy people and greedy people won't let it work. if the man next to you is not working as hard as you, yet enjoys the same lifestyle you are not going to be happy. if the man next to you doesn't work as hard as you, yet has more than you (see the former Soviet Union) you are going to revolt.
Like I said, "and I'm a firm believer in a REFORMED socialist party, which doesn't exist in this world today"
my issue was your concern over JWT's handle. john marion wayne was no more rascist than any other caucasian celebrity of his time so there was no reason to single out JohnWaynesTeeth when all he was doing was asking for an inroad to a consumer purchase.
Still, millions look up to him, and he felt very strongly (in a negative way) about blacks, he even called us the n word. Fine, argue that the only power the word has what one gives it, but I'm sure we can both agree that racism is learned. Therefore (in most cases), idolizing a racist can only groom you into becoming one, be it overtly, or covertly. How many young minority children do you have to speak with about innapropriate statements/ideas the espouse based on some sorry racist shit learned from aunts, uncles, moms, dads, the media, etc? I know I have to do it far too often for my liking.
the fact is, I grew up on welfare in southeast, DC. it was the college scholarship programs of Marion Barry (during the 70's) administration that allowed my parents to get college degrees. that in turn allowed my family to get off welfare and move out of the ghetto. now, i have a master's degree from a historically black university, and money in my pocket. in addition to being a software architect, and an adjunct professor at an HBCU, I also volunteer at a DC charter school where I teach computer technology to students who have not done well in a traditional public school environment.
Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you. Since we're trading business cards...
"I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice.
I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making
them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.
I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot
bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-
Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran
in love, and an outlaw in Peru.
Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly
defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious
army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the
subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large
suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On
Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.
I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie.
Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear.
I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I
have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last
summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.
I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy.
I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick and David Copperfield in one day
and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening.
I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket.
I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep
once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation
in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who
had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.
I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid.
On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami.
Years ago I discovered the meaning of life, but forgot to write it down.
I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a
toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis and Johnny Guitar Watson, recently.
But I have not yet gone to college..."
i prefer to paint DC as a utopian society where caucasians can come and spend their money in black owned establishments where young black cashiers serve their clientele with sunny dispositions.
That's cool. I got no problems with you inviting Mr. Teeth to DC or wherever, but don't minimize my comment about his handle, especially by demeaning me. Don't follow me? Peep this
" ...blacks in DC make so much money, we don't have time to worry about whether john wayne was a rascist..."
So am I to understand that I don't make enough money to keep myself from worrying about anyone who "...was no more rascist than any other caucasian celebrity of his time..."? Or is it that you're afforded that luxury because you're a black person in DC whose new (enough) socio-economic status has allowed you to transcend the shit that has plagued this country since its' inception? On the real, I'm not all that offended, but I wanna make my point, nonetheless. And that goes double since you're an educator. Your statement didn't make you sound cosmopolitan, money. It really didn't. Maybe more like a politician, but that's not a good thing. At what point am I gonna be rich enough or black enough or educated enough to not care? Maybe I'm stretching this to the limit, but you spit it out, and in the interest of those who aren't as advanced as you're intimating you are, what's a brother to do?
it's called marketing my man!!!
Um, yeah, marketing, that's it. Fine and dandy. But when you tacked on that one SIN-tence, what exactly were you "marketing," then?
70% of this countries population is caucasian.
Is it? Are you sure? I'm not, but I'd still beg to differ.
if all we as african american merchants do is sell goods and services to each other, no new money comes in to the community.
No doubt.
All that, and you're patronizing, too. And to think, I didn't even have to sign up for your class... Damn... :-(
a european-american asks you a question about what hip-hop to purchase, and instead of pointing him to a place where he can buy the CD of an african-american artist who is signed to an african-american label, who sell their CD's in african-american owned stores you are worried about his online-handle.
This is where, again, I feel compelled to tell you, as lovingly and respectfully as I can, to eat a dick. I answered his question sufficiently, as evidenced by his response, and commented on whatever else I CHOSE to comment on. He even commented about my comments, just to keep the air clear. It was all love. Nobody I mentioned is on a black-owned label, and I can't point him to any black-owned shops in his area, but if he wants to support ANY independent store, more power to him. Since you guys are geographically close, perhaps you should've just as lovingly pointed him to some shops that fit the description of what you hold important to you. Hell, you could've met him for coffee and taken him there. Make a new friend. I felt it more important to speak about his handle, since most people don't always realize the power and/or portent of insidious racial shit, or their heroes who embody it (be they white, red, yellow, or black as tar like my great uncle Charles), and I thank you for illustrating how people like yourself are equally as dangerous as those "heroes" with your sanctimonious, pontificating bullshit. I'm sure you have done a lot of good in this world, and will continue to do so, but your comments about what I wrote didn't make that list. To quote the highly educated and well-respected Crosstudio "
You almost lost the sale!" Be careful, your attitude (subjectively perceived by me) could tip you across the line from new-era salesman, to new era sell-out.
One,
Flo' Dolo
Oh, I forgot to tell you... I taught at a university, too only I wasn't teaching in U.S., I was in Ludwigsburg (Germany).
<Veilleicht wir koennen ueber unsere Lehrmethoden manchmal reden>
Thanks for the sparring match.
. I will most definitely be comin with my own piece a bit later once I regather my composure/thoughts. Anyways, Flo Do, PERFECT recommendations, all cutting edge, all raw, all REAL HIP-HOP. I'll add some of my favs, Massive Attack is a bit more Acid Jazz, alot less American, but SMOOTH as a motha and deep, and never dated (got a new LP comin soon, Mos Def guest appearanc, yeeeeah!!!), they are bout my second all time act ever. IMO Outkast represents what little that is good with mainstream hip-hop in America, and hence demands attention, 'sides they just make damn funky schtuff. That's all the change I got so....
)...