Afro-America Writer's space: Race

911 Is a Joke!!!

Tue, 20 May 2008 22:48:42 GMT

Sheila Jones, 911 caller

Imagine you're in a dire help! Oh a stalker of an ex-boyfriend is at your frontdoor and you call 911 in panic several times because you know the volatility of your ex but after you hung up, the 911 operator mutters: "I don't give a s**t." Well this scenario happened to Sheila Jones of Nashville, TN and the story can be found here. Warning: The video on the site is chilling.

MLK Statue Fiasco

Wed, 14 May 2008 19:21:01 GMT

Getty Images

Here we go again with art driving folks nuts! Let me be the first to say I'm a huge proponent of the theory that all "art is subjective." As long as you're not doing something with damning images a la Golf magazine a few months ago with a picture of the "noose," it's difficult to get me all up in arms about various images because most revered art work whether from Michael Angelo or Picasso have at one time have been seen as controversial. Now the latest art controversy is of one of the greatest Americans ever produced, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts says the sculpture of MLK make him appear "too confrontational." Granted, I don't think the sculptor should have made MLK cross his arms, anyone who studies body language would tell you the crossing of the arms could evoke several messages and often, not positive ones. However, I can't imagine what this lead sculptor, Lei Yixin is going through. First, there was an outcry from the black community about the sculptor chosen for this landmark statue was not "African-American;" he's Chinese. Now after, he erects the statue, the commission is saying the image is "too confrontational" but should be more "sympathetic."

Ok, time out! As an African-American, I never had a problem with the sculptor given the commission. I felt that the commission was following the principle of MLK in part not to judge a person by the color of his/her skin but by the content of his/her character. In my opinion, let the best sculptor (regardless of race) get the commission. Now about the statue: How do you make MLK more "sympathetic" when his life's work was confronting the injustice of his time? Seriously! After 40 years of his assasination, some critics have gone against the "santa-clausification" of MLK. These critics felt that MLK was more than just the "I have a dream" speech. Isn't it ironic that the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts is doing exactly what those critics bemoaned?

Again, I ask how do you make MLK's statue appear more sympathetic? Is it with him preaching against the inequality of the land on his pulpit? Or marching for the Montgomery bus boycott? Or seeing the image of a man the head of FBI, J. Edgar Hoover once called "the most dangerous man in America?" Yes he followed Gandhi's principles of "non-violence" but let's face it, MLK was no Gandhi in his demeanor. If you are going to sculpt a statue of a civil rights icon, you have to face the truth of the times. As the lead sculptor, Yixin responded to this latest controversy: "I just want to focus on King's ideals." Bravo Yixin!

What's up with the NYPD?

Mon, 12 May 2008 15:21:12 GMT

Can somebody please tell me what's happening in New York specifically with the NYPD? See the above picture? That's a picture of a high-ranking officer, Chief Douglas Ziegler, head of Community Affairs Bureau. Not only that, he's married to NYPD deputy commissioner of Equal Employment Opportunity (you'll see the irony of that in a minute). Oh did you notice he's black? So what's the problem? The problem is the officer was off-duty in street clothes when he was profiled; you know, driving while black.

So Officer Ziegler was approached by two NYPD officers (who are white) while his SUV was parked. The two white officers ordered him out and did not believe the NYPD identification Ziegler showed them. Seriously? Actually, one of the officers got in a shouting match with him after the said identification. Well since this case was filed, the said officer has been stripped of his barge and gun and also placed on modified duty.

NYPD, your rep is so shot right now, it's not even funny. This is less than a decade after Amadou Dillo, a few weeks after the controversial verdict of Sean Bell, the protests on the street last week, then this latest news this week. And to think it was against your very own - let me paraphrase what a police source said; "I don't know how you cannot recognize a Police Chief with ID around his neck."

Mildred Loving - Rest in Peace

Fri, 09 May 2008 21:08:37 GMT

One of the burning topics on my mind since last February when I started blogging actively was the issue of interracial relationships. However, the political scene kept me quite busy among other things. But a few days ago, I read an article of Mildred Loving’s passing and I knew I would be remiss if I didn’t write the piece before the week was over.

Mildred Loving was one half of the iconic couple who made interracial marriage legal in the seminal case of Loving vs. Virginia of 1967. Mildred was black and her husband Richard was white. They were actually married in 1958 in Washington – where interracial marriage was legal but when they returned home in Virginia, both of them arrested, jailed and banished from the state for 25 years. Well the case went all the way to the Supreme Court where justice prevailed to make it legal in ALL states regardless of race.

Mildred lost Richard in 1975 due to a car crash and she never remarried nor granted interviews even during last year’s 40^th anniversary. She never felt what she did was such a grand thing but oh I begged to differ . . . it was monumental!