M artin L uther K ing J r .
Page 38
January 13, 2016
2016 special edition
O PINION
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America is Literally Violently Ill
MLK said we need a
revolution of values
d ave r agland with M att M eyer
n atalie J effers
2015 was a year of exceptionally overt
police violence against black folk and trag-
ic mass shootings. A common response to
these events has been that they are the re-
sult of “sick” individuals. Many conserva-
tives have suggested that the shooters were
mentally ill: that the problem was a prolif-
eration of bad people, not a proliferation of
guns. When, however, the murderers hap-
pen to be people “of color,” the narrative
often changes to one of terrorism and ex-
tremism (though the NRA position remains
consistently pro-gun, even defending the
rights of the San Bernadino terrorists to ac-
quire their weaponry).
In fact, according to the Department
of Health and Human Services, just 3.5
percent of violent acts are attributable to
mental illness. And in fact, police have fre-
quently simply treated nonviolent mental
illness as a capital offense requiring instant
lethal force.
But what about inciting people to vio-
lence? We should not fail to recognize the
systemic interplay between race, class,
NRA lobbying, and gun-related deaths. The
myth of black criminality is conveniently
used to replace an institutional analysis
of what is wrong with our country. These
myths, both for police and for the majority
of Americans, justify summary executions,
the refusal of police to acknowledge the
by
and
wrong-doings of fellow officers, and the
courts’ general unwillingness to hold indi-
vidual officers accountable, opting instead
to prop up a system of cover-up, delay, and
denial. The rare exceptions boldly high-
light the rule.
America is literally violently ill. This
society is feverish on the valorization of vi-
olence. Victims of violence – speaking out
and demanding accountability for racism
(such as in Charleston or Ferguson), or re-
garding violent sexism (as in Planned Par-
enthood) – are blamed as the cause. This
lations, and women to gain free labor and
land. Civil Rights law professor Michelle
Alexander chronicles the continuation of
slavery from slave patrols to our current
prison system, which disproportionately
incarcerates blacks and Latinos. It seems
our denial of the past leads us to denial of
the present crisis.
Without facing our shared history
frankly, including greater attempts to make
amends, we cannot expect anything dif-
ferent from our future. To be clear, the au-
thors do not support any violence. Having
It is no coincidence that this year of violence
and fear was also marked by a huge increase
in gun sales, stoked by politicians who suggest
that survival of the American status quo is
dependent on being armed against black, brown,
immigrant, Muslim, and other “categories”
that engender fear from impressionable white
Americans.
‘blame culture’ is a symptom of America’s
frankly sick relationship to violence.
In order for healing to occur, we must
trace our disease back to its sources, which
include: The slave-owning colonies that
revolted against the British created a “de-
mocracy” for whites only. Since America’s
founding, whites have used widespread
violence against blacks, indigenous popu-
said that, history shows that, for example,
Black Panthers who invoked their Second
Amendment right to bear arms faced ex-
traordinary, illegal, state-sponsored repres-
sion while armed white vigilantes were
allowed to carry assault weapons at Fer-
guson protests. Why the double standard?
Is it possible that guns in public places are
always in the wrong hands?
It is no coincidence that this year of vi-
olence and fear was also marked by a huge
increase in gun sales, stoked by politicians
who suggest that survival of the American
status quo is dependent on being armed
against black, brown, immigrant, Muslim,
and other “categories” that engender fear
from impressionable white Americans.
Yes, caution is important, but if we went
by the statistics, perhaps we would disband
all sports, or emasculate all men—they are
the rapists and molesters of little girls, after
all. But in America, we value each individ-
ual—we don’t judge them by what “race,”
religion, class or other category into which
they were born.
While many Americans try to protect
some tiny bit of existential comfort gained
in part from injustice, countless others are
humiliated, discriminated against, jailed
and killed through violent policing and the
consequences of being born the wrong race
and class. We are all, however, born into
a systemic culture of silence and denial,
trained to overlook how – from the begin-
ning – militarization has mixed with mon-
ey and racial matters to build this world-
class empire.
America is ill, and the cause is the in-
grained violence that comes from racism,
materialism, sexism, economic injustice
and beyond. We must, as a nation, cure
this illness before it becomes terminal. In
Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1967 speech, he
urged that America needed “a radical rev-
olution of values” – exhorting us to move
C ontinued on P age 40
Nataline Cole: Still Unforgettable
A model for
redemption and
a legacy in her
own right
by Marc H. Morial
Natalie Cole was an
accomplished prod-
uct of her deep-root-
ed musical heritage.
A chart topping R&B
crooner in the 70s,
Cole went on to even greater
popularity and accolade with her
smooth transition to jazz and pop
music standards—successfully re-
interpreting American classics and
singing the tunes that once made
her father an international record-
ing star.
Cole’s budding music career
began at the tender age of six,
singing on a Christmas album with
her father Nat “King” Cole. Born
in 1950, Cole grew up surrounded
by music and music royalty. Her
father was already a rising music
star and renowned jazz pianist.
Her mother, Maria Cole, was a
one-time performer with the Duke
Ellington Orchestra. Cole once
said that her father—who
died of lung cancer in 1965
when Cole was 15-years-
old—had been everything
to her, and that was more
than evident in the turn her
ever-evolving career would
take; reuniting her voice with
her father’s through the mira-
cle of technology.
Cole got her start in the music
industry as an R&B singer. Her
singing style was a marked depar-
ture from her father’s style. Where
Nat was cool and refined, Natalie
was warmer and soulful. The
American music buying public
went on to embrace Natalie Cole’s
new sound and solo career. Ten
years after the death of her famous
father, and a brief detour from
music that earned her a bachelor’s
degree in child psychology, Cole
went on to win two of her nine ca-
reer Grammys. She earned one for
Best New Artist of 1975 and the
other for Best Female R&B Vocal
Performance for her up-beat, chart
topper “This Will Be (An Ever-
lasting Love).” Her career soared
with four gold and two platinum
records. Her first platinum album,
“Unpredictable,” spawned anoth-
er R&B hit and slow jam standard
“I’ve Got Love on my Mind.” Her
fourth album “Thankful,” which
also went platinum, gave us the
gift of another signature hit “Our
Love.”
Despite her musical legacy and
birthright, despite her own unde-
niable, autonomous claim to suc-
cess, Cole suffered setbacks and
faced demons that threatened to
dismantle everything her beautiful
voice had built.
Cole’s star dimmed in the 80s,
much of it due to alcohol abuse
and cocaine addiction. At the
height of her troubles, her moth-
er filed a petition for conserva-
torship to handle Cole’s affairs
when she no longer could. After
spending time in rehab, her ca-
reer came back to life in the late
80s with a cover of Bruce Spring-
steen’s “Pink Cadillac” and the
soaring ballad “I Live for Your
Love.” It was in 1991 that Cole
would go on to achieve her great-
est success with an album that
was as much a nod to the past as it
was an acknowledgement of the
future of music and its capacity.
Cole reunited with her father’s
voice and paid tribute to him
with new arrangements of songs
once made famous by Nat “King”
Cole on the album “Unforget-
table…With Love.” The album,
complete with a technologically
assisted father-daughter duet of
“Unforgettable” 25 years after
his death, earned Cole six Gram-
mys, including Song of the Year,
Record of the Year and Album of
the Year, and the album sold 14
million copies worldwide.
In 2008, Cole announced that
she had been diagnosed with hep-
atitis C, a liver disease spread
through blood, which she blamed
on her past intravenous drug use.
Her growing health concerns nev-
er stopped Cole from working and
creating that beautiful music that
attracted so many fans.
But Cole was more than her
voice and her many accomplish-
ments in music, film and enter-
tainment. In an interview with
People Magazine, Cole is said to
have described herself as “a walk-
ing testimony [that] you can have
scars…you can go through turbu-
lent times and still have victory in
your life.”
Natalie Cole was a fighter, a
model for redemption and legacy
in her own right, whose influence
and signature on America’s cultur-
al landscape will remain unforget-
table.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer of the
National Urban League.