Did You Wear Your Hoodie Today

African American’s are a nation of people living in a nation without a nationality. Some will say, America has a black president, yet the condition remain. This speaks to the institutions within the context of a society that dictates the continuation of the system that exists within the country.

It is because of this system, which has been in existence from the founding of America that has caused the purposeful demise of people of color because the system is designed to protect the system. Now, let me speak to the concept of leadership: Dr. Carter G. Woodson who wrote the powerful novel “The Mis-Education of the Negro” in 1933, or there about, challenged his readers to become empowered by doing for themselves.

He said: “Regardless of what we are taught history shows that it does not matter who is in power… those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning.” This speaks volumes.

If you can control a man is thinking you never have to worry about what he thinks. I will speak for me, no matter how messed up the world is and the minds of man; we must come together as a people! We must take responsibility for ourselves because life demands survival of the fittest, just like in all other parts of the animal kingdom. As a people, African Americans have waited far too long and become much too dependent on those who are in charge of the system.

Therefore, I say it is time to remove the shackles of bondage that remain mentally. Malcolm X once said, “We spend too much time singing and not enough time swinging”. Let me be clear, I do not repeat this statement to advocate violence. Rather to suggest that we have spent centuries believing, following, and listening to the messages communicated to us by those who control our destiny – making us believe that there is a better place for us when we’re dead. I say we have a right to live NOW!

I want to propose an idea that could be the answer to our salvation. There is about 38 – 40 million African Americans living in America. If each person contributed one dollar per week; it would add up to forty million dollars. Multiply that time’s fifty-two weeks; that’s over two-trillion dollars annually. We have people who run some of the world’s largest corporations who could manage that money – invest it and make more money and as such many of the problems we face would go away.

Overtime we’ve won many civil rights battles, which should never have had to be fought. Yet, we still must fight to have the necessities to survive. We just celebrated the commemoration of more than fifty-years of marching coupled with over four-hundred years of bondage in one form or another.

So I say, as tenacious beings, rise up you mighty people rise up. The time is now – if for no other reason than to continue the species. We are people of the mighty – act like it! And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective...

Have you worn your hoodie lately?

http://johntwills.com

Legacy – A New Season 

AMAZON

Just a Season

The Nightmares Of Yesterday

Yesterday’s commemoration of the historic March on Washington should be an eye-opening reminder or a remembrance of what it was like and the horrible things that happened in 1963. To that point, did anyone notice the absence of a Republican contingent neither current elected officials nor the two living Republican past Presidents. It is clear that they were invited but declined. Instead, it has been reported that the GOP held their own commemoration, which reminds me of “Separate but Equal” like it was in 1963.  

A recap of the 1963:

• January 14 - Alabama Governor George Wallace delivers his "segregation now, segregation forever" inaugural speech, penned by Asa Carter, the founder of a KKK terrorist organization.
• April 12 – Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth and others are arrested in a Birmingham, Alabama protest for "parading without a permit".
• April 16 - Martin Luther King, Jr. issues his Letter from Birmingham Jail.
• May 2 - Thousands of African Americans, many of them children, are arrested while protesting segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Public Safety Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor unleashes fire hoses and police dogs on the demonstrators.
• June 12 - Alabama Governor George Wallace stands in the door of the University of Alabama to protest against integration, before stepping aside and allowing African Americans James Hood and Vivian Malone to enroll.
• President John F. Kennedy broadcasts a historic Civil Rights Address, in which he promises a Civil Rights Bill, and asks for "the kind of equality of treatment that we would want for ourselves."
• June 12 - Medgar Evers, an NAACP worker in Mississippi, is murdered by white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith.
• August 18 – James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
• August 28 - Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the 250,000 people gathered for the peaceful March on Washington.
• September 15 - The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham is bombed by the KKK. Four African American girls die in the blast, sparking armed conflict between blacks and whites. Although bombings of black churches had been occurring throughout the Deep South and particularly in Birmingham since 1948, this tragic event galvanizes the Civil Rights Movement.

With regard to the Republicans not in attendance I will say it is telling! I would argue that their mindset is similar to that mindset of 1963. Remember President 43 did not attend any of the yearly NAACP Meetings during his presidency. I will digress and say that I was wrong. There was one Republican present for the fiftieth anniversary. It was Abraham Lincoln. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…  

When Your (Brown) Body is a (White) Wonderland

Being desirable is a commodity. Capital and capitalism are gendered systems. The very form that money takes — paper and not goods — is rooted in a historical enterprise of controlling the development of an economic sphere where women might amass wealth. As wealth is a means of power in a capitalistic society, controlling this means of acceptable monies was a way of controlling the accumulation, distribution and ownership of capital.

For black women, that form of money was embodied by the very nature of how we came to be in America.

Our bodies were literally production units. As living cost centers we not only produced labor as in work but we produced actual labor through labor, i.e. we birthed more cost centers. The legendary “one drop” rule of determining blackness was legally codified not just out of ideological purity of white supremacy but to control the inheritance of property. The sexual predilections of our nation’s great men threatened to transfer the wealth of white male rapists to the children born of their crimes through black female bodies.

Today much has changed and much has not. The strict legal restriction of inheritable black deviance has been disrupted but there still exists a racialized, material value of sexual relationships. The family unit is considered the basic unit for society not just because some god decreed it but because the inheritance of accumulated privilege maintains our social order.

Thus, who we marry at the individual level may be about love but at the group level it is also about wealth and power and privilege.

Black feminists have critiqued the material advantage that accrues to white women as a function of their elevated status as the normative cultural beauty ideal. As far as privileges go it is certainly a complicated one but that does not negate its utility. Being suitably marriageable privileges white women’s relation to white male wealth and power.

The cultural dominance of a few acceptable brown female beauty ideals is a threat to that privilege. Cyrus acts out her faux bisexual performance for the white male gaze against a backdrop of dark, fat black female bodies and not slightly more normative cafe au lait slim bodies because the juxtaposition of her sexuality with theirs is meant to highlight Cyrus, not challenge her supremacy. Consider it the racialized pop culture version of a bride insisting that all of her bridesmaids be hideously clothed as to enhance the bride’s supremacy on her wedding day.

Only, rather than an ugly dress, fat black female bodies are wedded to their flesh. We cannot take it off when we desire the spotlight for ourselves or when we’d rather not be in the spotlight at all.

This political economy of specific types of black female bodies as a white amusement park was ignored by many, mostly because to critique it we have to critique ourselves.

When I moved to Atlanta I was made aware of a peculiar pastime of the city’s white frat boy elite. They apparently enjoy getting drunk and visiting one of the city’s many legendary black strip clubs rather than the white strip clubs. The fun part of this ritual seems to be rooted in the peculiarity of black female bodies, their athleticism and how hard they are willing to work for less money as opposed to the more normative white strippers who expect higher wages in exchange for just looking pretty naked. There are similar racialized patterns in porn actresses’ pay and, I suspect, all manner of sex workers. The black strip clubs are a bargain good time because the value of black sexuality is discounted relative to the acceptability of black women as legitimate partners.

There is no risk of falling in love with a stripper when you’re a white guy at the black strip club. Just as country music artists strip “badonkadonk” from black beauty ideals to make it palatable for to their white audiences, these frat boys visit the black body wonderland as an oddity to protect the supremacy of white women as the embodiment of more and better capital.

My mentor likes to joke that interracial marriage is only a solution to racial wealth gaps if all white men suddenly were to marry up with poor black women. It’s funny because it is so ridiculous to even imagine. Sex is one thing. Marrying confers status and wealth. Slaveholders knew that. Our law reflects their knowing this. The de rigueur delineation of this difference may have faded but cultural ideology remains.

Cyrus’ choice of the kind of black bodies to foreground her white female sexuality was remarkable for how consistent it is with these historical patterns. We could consider that a coincidence just as we could consider my innumerable experiences with white men and women after a few drinks an anomaly. But, I believe there is something common to the bodies that are made invisible that Cyrus might be the most visible to our cultural denigration of bodies like mine as inferior, non-threatening spaces where white women can play at being “dirty” without risking her sexual appeal.

I am no real threat to white women’s desirability. Thus, white women have no problem cheering their husbands and boyfriends as they touch me on the dance floor. I am never seriously a contender for acceptable partner and mate for the white men who ask if their buddy can put his face in my cleavage. I am the thrill of a roller coaster with safety bars: all adrenaline but never any risk of falling to the ground.

I am not surprised that so many overlooked this particular performance of brown bodies as white amusement parks in Cyrus’ performance. The whole point is that those round black female bodies are hyper-visible en masse but individually invisible to white men who were, I suspect Cyrus’ intended audience.

No, it’s not Syria but it is still worth commenting upon when in the pop culture circus the white woman is the ringleader and the women who look like you are the dancing elephants.

My friend, George Fraser, the deep-thinker, posted this article written by Tressiemc, a Doctoral candidate. This is an excerpt of a powerful message that I view as a must read. Go to her site to read the entire provocative artical. www.tressiemc.com

That Literary Lady Talks With Author John T. Wills

Author John T. Wills sat down with Yolanda Bryant-Johnson "That Literary Lady" for a rare interview. An honor indeed. I invite you to listen and get to know the author of Thought Provoking Perspectives.

http://johntwills.com

“Knowledge is power and power produces an understanding that education is the single most important ingredient necessary to neutralize those forces that breed poverty and despair. You can change the world but first - you must change your mind”.

LISTEN: http://www.spreaker.com/show/the_john_t_wills_show

John T. Wills

The 21st Century Slave

I suppose everyone has an opinion on prisons and incarceration in America. Some view it as the New Jim Crow and of course there are others who see nothing wrong with the system at all. There are laws in New York City that clearly racial profile - “Stop and Frisk” – and the “Stand your Ground” laws are discriminatory which take us back to a time when the slave catcher had ultimate authority to take and maintain ones freedom.

The system of over incarcerating people who have spent years in tombs called prisons and in many cases for crimes they did not commit. Lest not forget the sad irony of people being put to death who fall into this category or more shameful executions of the mentally disabled and life sentences for minors. Moreover, there is the fact that once released the convicts voting rights are taken away forever - in most cases.

This could easily be compared to the slave catcher and the system of slavery; particularly, when little is being paid to those working during their time. There is a long history of lynching’s, chain gangs, and the free labor derived from this system, which has more people in prison than anywhere else in the world. It was not until recently that the disproportionate sentencing of powder cocaine and crack have been modified and shown to be unfair.  

A few years ago a Vermont man sued the state under the 13^th Amendment for the labor he was forced to perform while awaiting trial. A one-time grad student was arrested for allegedly firing a gun in his home threatening to kill his family and an official at the university. In the lawsuit this man alleges that the state violated his rights under the 13th Amendment -- which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude after the Civil War -- when he was forced to work in the laundry for minimal pay as an inmate.

In his $11-million lawsuit pro se, the grad student said he was forced to work three days a week for six weeks washing other inmates' laundry. He was paid a wage of 25 cents per hour and developed a bacterial infection on his neck because he was not provided sanitation in the laundry room. He says, prison officials threatened to put him "in the hole," where inmates are shackled and locked up for 23 hours per day in solitary confinement, if he refused to work.

It is important to note that the man was released and all charges against him were dropped. A panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overruled the lower court's dismissal of the case, arguing that inmate did not have to prove that his experience was akin to those of African slaves before abolition.

"Contrary to the district court's conclusion, it is well-settled that the term 'involuntary servitude' is not limited to chattel slavery-like conditions," Appellate Judge Barrington Parker wrote in the court's opinion. "The amendment was intended to prohibit all forms of involuntary labor, not solely to abolish chattel slavery."

Supreme Court precedent has established that the constitutional rights of pretrial detainees are distinct from those of convicted inmates, because criminal convictions can justify certain punishments, Judge Parker argued. "If you haven't been convicted at all, your pretrial detention is not a form of punishment," said Columbia Law School professor Jamal Greene. "The degree to which his liberty can be restricted is directly tied to the needs that required him to be detained. So if he was detained only to secure himself for trial, he can't be detained for punishment."

While all inmates may be expected to clean up their cells or wipe down tables in the mess hall, Greene said, the poorly paid, unsafe work the inmate alleged he was forced to do may have crossed a legal boundary. Let me say clearly that it is not my position that laws and punishment are not necessary. What is disparaging is that it disproportionately affects the minority population of the citizenry.

This is just one case from a few years ago but the overcrowding, twenty-five to life, draconian sentences imposed for minor drug offenses, and three-strike laws are akin to chattel slavery. This system has run amuck mainly because of privatization and it’s time to end the “War on Drugs” and find a better solution to the problem instead of throwing away the key.

Did you know the clothing worn by our soldiers are made by the cheap labor of the incarcerated? In closing, let me suggest that you read Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow”. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

A Great Show!

Today all eyes were on Washington as a celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the “March on Washington” for Jobs and Justice took place. August 28, 1963 marked a pivotal moment in America as the March on Washington, dubbed the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of the United States. No question a historic event which attracted more than 250,000 Americans demanding equality in jobs and civil rights.

Off the top, let me say that I think it was a great day back in August 1963 where people of all stripe came to Washington trying to obtain equal treatment under the law. Just in case anyone may have forgotten - America’s extreme racial practices were worst than the system of Apartheid in South Africa or anywhere else in the world.

Comes now, on this day, August 23, 2013, most have proclaimed “how far we [Blacks] have come.” I can agree in some sense but I will say that if we have come so far – why are we marching? Also, in my opinion, marching is a strategy not a solution. The few adjustments to the laws, overtime, have been taken away. We face the same issues the original organizers who marched fifty-years ago. As I see it “just as sure as things change they remain the same”.

I called the march a great show because there was much collective talk about the need for a continued effort to seek what should be granted in the first place. Therefore, I fear the same show will return to the same venue in fifty-years.

I will start and end the discussion of what was meant by the so-called dream right here. In the all mighty living document - the Constitution - it says clearly that Negroes are 3/5’s human and to this day no amendment has been added to change that to make blacks whole and thereby full citizens. Therefore, the so-called dream will never be realized unless and until this is done. So the cause of truth and justice should start there!

On this day that most are celebrating and singing “We Shall Overcome Someday”. The question is “what day and in whose lifetime”. I will leave you with this and pray that in fifty-years there will be no need for a March for Job’s and Justice. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

John T. Wills with "That Literary Lady 

The Godfather Of Soul

The untimely death of James Brown in 2006 of has left a void in what was once called “Soul Music”. Young people today don’t realize the relevance of Mr. Brown’s accomplishments, although I doubt if Brown himself ever doubted his own significance as a historic figure and an undeniably game-changing artist. His showmanship and art altered the music world but James Brown didn’t bring blacks to the mainstream; instead, he brought the mainstream to blacks and made them appreciate and internalize black music and culture.

Everybody who has ever heard a song by Mr. Brown has attempted to tell his story and try to dissect his complex and multilayered life. Regardless of the varying opinions most have failed to fully capture the depth of value that Brown and his music played in transforming American life.

A New Year Times reporter RJ Smith wrote a book a few years ago titled “The One: The Life and Music of James Brown where he said:

“Smith not only effortlessly highlights James’s unmatched musical career, but also provides a well-studied historical context for the basis of his artistic expression. Chronicling the legacy of resistance through music, Smith explains how James’s artistry was closely linked to the struggle for civil rights as well as the cultural expression of blacks, from Africa through slavery and the journey into the 20th century. It would after all be impossible to discuss 20th-century music and the civil rights/black power movement without putting James Brown at the top of that list. And “The One” is the first serious book to explain precisely why.”

“When you reflect on the life and legacy of James Brown, it cannot be explained without taking into account the period in which he was raised and the experiences that shaped his identity. But just as important is how he incorporated his social/political views into his music in a way that was soulful and entertaining beyond belief.”

James Brown was an enigma and I would imagine by his own design, which could very well be the price of fame. Brown who grew up in the harsh and segregated south could not have been born into the multitude of success obtained throughout his career. This was accomplished by hard work, grit, and dogged determination. His life by virtue of being in the entertainment business was made up of constant challenges and hurdles, but his perseverance and tenacity — coupled with sheer talent — provided the world with a lens on the American black experience.

The article stated that “The One” thrives in highlighting how James’s irrefutable genius and artistry transcended social blockades and eventually drew audiences from all sectors of society. The funk originator never compromised his roots and never sold out in order to be accepted; rather, he made the world revolve around him. But despite his tremendous achievements, his success was still limited.”

The ­hardest-working man in showbiz not only made us “black and proud” but he also possessed a soul rooted deeply in equality and justice for his people. I will not attempt to rewrite a story that has already been well written nor have I read the book but I am suggesting that to understand the greatness in a man that so many have tried to tarnish - maybe we should read the book.

I don't believe there are any perfect men but there are men with perfect intentions. Therefore, I’m going to overlook any faults or frailties the man may have had and just say as Mr. Brown said so boldly in a recording at a time when he could have ended his career - “Say it Load I’m Black and I’m Proud”. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

Make It Plain

As I remember the times in which we’ve lived with thoughts of our history and I will say again that “Our story is the Greatest Story Ever Told”. I always pay homage to the ghosts of the greats who paved a might trail for us to walk to which I think we have a responsibility to march on. I was blessed to have had the privilege to live during the civil rights era to witness groups and individuals fight to end racial segregation and the unequal treatment of African-Americans.

It would be my hope that all of us would take this opportunity during the upcoming March on Washington this week to reach one – teach one. Share the stories of our struggle with your children. History unknown and its unlearned lessons are as ominous as death.

I have added a few of the many significant events and some of the brave and courageous solders in the army that changed America or dare I say the world.

Events in the Civil Rights Movement

• Civil Rights Movement
• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
• Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)
• Integration of Central High School (1957)
• Greensboro Sit-In and the Sit-In Movement (1960)
• Freedom Rides (1961)
• Integration of Ole Miss (1962)
• March on Washington (1963)
• Birmingham Church Bombing (1963)
• Freedom Summer (1964)
• Civil Rights Act (1964)
• Selma to Montgomery March (1965)
• Voting Rights Act (1965)
• Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)

Solders of the Civil Rights Movement

• Martin Luther King Jr.
• Rosa Parks
• Malcolm X
• Stokely Carmichael
• Thurgood Marshall
• Medgar Evars
• Jesse Jackson
• Fannie Lou Hamer
• Emmett Till
• Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
• Studen Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

I am reminded of Malcolm X who used to say “Make It Plain” which meant in essence to bring forth the knowledge. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

To Serve

History is a historical clock that tells a people use to tell the historical time. More importantly history tells a people where they have been and where they still must go. As we approach the Resurrection of the famed March on Washington I want to share a profound message from Dr. Martin Luther King that if taken to heart – will change the world.

Please listen to the video and make that change. I once heard it said that “I may not be the one to change the world but I can change the mind of the one who can”. And that’s my thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

The Black Holocaust

Dr. John Henrik Clarke an intellectual genius, and my hero, gives a powerful lecture on history, factually, concerning world events that changed the world forever. This is an empowering lesson delivered powerfully with facts that all of should know.

Please listen and be empowered! And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com