Opinion
Ebola Mirrors HIV/AIDS Pandemic
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
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A
high school friend of my
wife was one of the earli-
est victims of the
HIV/AIDS pandemic. He was a
flight attendant, who was stricken
and died quickly. When he died
they still had not come up with a
name for the pandemic. But then
others became sick and died and
suddenly the public knew that
something deadly was unfolding.
In the beginning of the pandem-
ic there were different ways that it
was characterized. The media and
the “street” would talk about the
“gay cancer” or the “disease” that
afflicted Haitians, homosexuals
and hemophiliacs. There were
those who suggested locking up
entire populations. No one seemed
to know whether you could hug
and kiss someone with what later
came to be called HIV/AIDS.
There was panic. While the sci-
ence was ignored, there was a
demand for a cure. All sorts of the-
ories circulated as to how and why
HIV/AIDS emerged.
It was through the work of
groups such as Gay Men’s Health
Crisis, ACT UP and others that the
crisis was confronted at the level
of public health and justice. They
and similar such formations mobi-
T RANS
A FRICA
Bill
Fletcher Jr.
lized against the demonization of
the HIV/AIDS infected. Slowly
the tide began to turn and attitudes
started
to
shift.
That said, it feels, in the midst of
the Ebola crisis, that we are back
medical personnel to help to con-
front the tragedy. They seem to
think that they can put Australia in
some sort of bubble and keep it
healthy. I hate to break it to them
but in this age of globalization, it
does not work that way.
Yet, in the U.S. there are many
people with the same impulses. In
a country of more than 300 million
people there have been nine vic-
tims of Ebola. Nine. Yet the
actions by some politicians would
make you think that thousands of
people had crossed the Atlantic
and were infecting the population.
Worse, there are politicians who
Much as HIV/AIDS became another
reason to dehumanize gays, Ebola
has become yet another reason to
condemn the African World
to ground zero. Science is being
ignored. The Australian govern-
ment has cut off visas to West
African countries afflicted by the
outbreak and has refused to deploy
are pinning this crisis on President
Obama as a way of motivating
their base to vote for conserva-
tives.
It is time for something akin to
the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and
ACT UP. There needs to be a
broad-based discussion about
Ebola and I would argue that the
African American community and
African immigrants must take the
lead because this pandemic is
painted with “race” by all sorts of
charlatans. Much as HIV/AIDS
became another reason to dehu-
manize gays, Ebola has become
yet another reason to condemn the
African World.
Panic and irrational responses
are not stopped through pleading,
and are frequently not stopped
through common sense. You
sometimes need a strong force
that, through its actions, mobiliza-
tions, publicity, etc., shatters the
panic and actually forces the larg-
er public to consider reality.
That time has arrived.
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the host of
The Global African on Telesur-
English. He is a racial justice,
labor and global justice writer
and activist. You can follow him
on Facebook and at www.bill-
fletcherjr.com.
Charles Barkley: Dishonoring Success
I
f you want a provocative com-
ment about the Black
community, turn to Charles
Barkley. The NBA Hall of Famer
made headlines last week when he
addressed comments about Seattle
Seahawks Quarterback Russell
Wilson not being Black enough
for his teammates. He said that
African Americans are too con-
cerned with street cred than true
success and that’s holding the
community back.
Whether he knew it or not,
Barkley’s observations would also
apply to the Hip Hop dilemma,
which can be defined as the com-
mon
distasteful
physical
emotional and/or mental trauma
people experience when coming in
contact with the Hip Hop Commu-
nity.
While I agree with some of
Barkley’s statement, I don’t
believe this is a conversation that
should target only at the uneducat-
ed, unsuccessful and unintelligent
Blacks. It gives everybody with a
college degree and some success
under their belt a pass to point
their fingers at the less fortunate in
the community without taking a
look at what part they play.
Let’s be honest, Russell Wilson
is White America’s Black role
model, rightfully so. Russell came
in as a young, mixed race, quiet
second-year quarterback and won
the Super Bowl. He showed White
America he knows how to play
their game and he is good at it.
Like Barkley, he had a White wife.
Naturally, the Black community
generates hate for those type of
achievements, which Barkley was
referring to when he said, “We as
black people are never going to be
successful, not because of you
white people, but because of other
H IP H OP
U NION
Jineea
Butler
black people. When you are black,
you have to deal with so much
crap in your life from other black
people. It’s a dirty, dark secret;
I’m glad it’s coming out.”
Me, too. But let’s get it all out
while we are on this topic. Unless
thing of themselves. Another
group of Black people who most
likely grew up with two parents in
a predominantly White area, like
Russell Wilson, and achieved suc-
cess by following the rules to the
American Dream. And you have a
group of Blacks, like Colin Pow-
ell, who were raised during the
Civil Rights Era and were taught it
is their duty to succeed. And you
have another group of Black peo-
ple who are average achievers
from humble beginnings and fake
it till they make it (You know a lot
of people like that). Lastly, you
have a group of Black people, like
‘When you are black, you have to
deal with so much crap in your life
from other black people. It’s a dirty,
dark secret; I’m glad it’s coming out’
the players on the Seattle Sea-
hawks were drafted out of high
school, they are college educated.
It is so easy for us to generalize
and say if you are a thug, an idiot
or someone who breaks the law,
you suffer from the crabs in the
barrel syndrome. This is the Hip
Hop dilemma. Blaming every-
thing on people who look like the
problem. Black people have a
problem no matter what level they
are on. And some of it is White
America’s fault. And some of it is
ours.
You have one group of Black
people who climbed the success
ladder from horrible living condi-
tions, like Charles Barkley, but
were determined to make some-
Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner November 5, 2014
Lil Wayne, whose trust and basic
living needs were so terribly vio-
lated they only understand the
rules to survival.
Every group is different and has
its own set of values, essentially
want the same things but were
taught different ways to achieve
them. There is so much caged
energy and tension bottled up in
the pursuit to become a successful
earner in our community, because
we think there is no blueprint or
guarantee that success is
inevitable so it becomes a dog-eat-
dog competition among everyone.
Most people are willing to sacri-
fice someone else for the sake of
their own ascension and that is
what is holding us back.
This mass confusion is further
amplified by White people who
think there is only one decent
Black person in each category that
they can trust except for success-
ful athletes, entertainers and those
who were raised under their
regime. The problem arises when
the Black person the White person
decides to trust is given the power
to oversee the progression of other
Black people and ends up abusing
the power in all areas. This mimics
the slave plantation as it is cen-
turies of mental torment that still
dictate our actions.
The dark secret is the war that’s
going on within the ranks of Black
folks. Most Blacks are brain-
washed into thinking the type of
Black person they are is the only
type of Black person there should
be.
The ‘Fake it till you make it’
types are the biggest group and
most dangerous ones because they
live under a ‘Willie Lynch’ men-
tality. They take the role of
representative for the group and
act as an agent for other Blacks
who feel they need an invitation to
success.
The ‘civil rights’ type keeps
everything in the Black communi-
ty together by staying aware and
recognizing past gimmicks that
are passed over as new agendas.
They never stopped marching and
they never stopped protesting.
They still carry the torch firmly
and stand their ground on issues of
race and inequality in America.
Jineea Butler, founder of the
Social Services of Hip Hop and
the Hip Hop Union, can be
reached at jineea@gmail.com or
Tweet her at @flygirlladyjay.