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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 2015)
Opinion A Young Sister ‘Hashtagged’ Me “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor J ERRY F OSTER Advertising Manager L ISA L OVING News Editor P ATRICIA I RVIN Graphic Designer A RASHI Y OUNG D ONOVAN M. S MITH Reporters M ONICA J. F OSTER Seattle Office Coordinator J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., W hen a colleague dropped the line, “You can’t hashtag your way to freedom,” I loved it! I laughed out loud, and promised that I’d not borrow the line, but steal it because I was so enamored of it. I’ve used it quite a few times since then, and gotten my share of grins and guffaws. So I used it again and again, always getting the same reaction. Imagine my surprise, then, when Frenchie Davis, 35, the Howard University alumna who burst onto the music scene with her 2003 turn on “American Idol,” took me to school by telling me she thought my remark was “condescending.” I didn’t mean to be condescend- ing, just to make the point that there is a difference between tweeting and fighting for change. Hashtags are not votes. Even if a million people hashtagged #bring- backourgirls, the hundreds of Nigerian young women abducted by Boko Haram are still missing. Frenchie Davis thought my glib remark dismissed a form of com- munication that young people find effective, a form of communica- tion that raises their awareness. She is right to point out that elec- tronic and social media is far more consequential today than it was just a decade ago, and that her generation relies on social media more heavily than it does tradi- tional media. While many people of my Baby Boomer generation use electronic media, we are not as immersed in it as younger folks are. Reality check. The median age 415 N. Killingsworth St., B ENNETT C OLLEGE Julianne Malveaux of the African American recorded in the 2000 Census was 30.4, com- pared to the national mean of 34.4. As of 2013, the mean age of U.S. born Blacks was 29, compared to a national mean of 37. That means the average African American is closer in age to Frenchie Davis than to me. Members of that generation – commemoration. By way of back- ground, the Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862 paid the owners of 3,100 slaves $300 each to emancipate them; for the past decade D.C. commemorates this day with an official holiday. The other panelists, Malik Yoba, Doug E. Fresh, and Mali Music, are, like Davis, socially and politi- cally active artists, who are also concerned with ways to increase involvement in civil rights mat- ters. Mali Music, 27, was the youngest member of the panel. His comments about young Black male alienation offered an impor- tant perspective in a conversation structured to address voting, polic- ing, and organizing. I’d not heard Getting out of my silo, it’s important that drummers (or hashtaggers) both teach and learn too often disdained by their elders for their work ethic, commitment to civil rights, or style of dress – are the ones who will propel the Civil Rights Movement into the future. So Sister Frenchie was right to call me on my snarly/funny remark about hash- tagging to freedom. If the hashtag takes you to a conversation, and that takes you to action, then the hashtag may be a step in the right direction. My conversation with Frenchie Davis took place when I moderat- ed a panel on “Race, Justice, and Change,” as part of the Washing- ton, D.C. Emancipation Day of the Grammy Award nominee before, which perhaps reveals the generational silo I occupy. I’m uncomfortable in my silo. Uncomfortable with how easy it is to join a conversation about gener- ational differences without embracing generational similari- ties. “Back in the day,” a phrase I probably should use much less, many of our radio shows or sta- tions were called “The Drum,” after the drumbeat form of com- munication. Hashtag can rightly be seen as another word for drum. And getting out of my silo, it’s important that drummers (or hash- taggers) both teach and learn. How do we get young people involved in the Civil Rights Movement? Many already are involved – check them out at #Blacklivesmatter. More than con- versation, this communication has galvanized tens of thousands to stay focused on continued police violence and the attacks on Black life. The hashtag has connected people planning marches and protests. That’s involvement. Are we insisting that young peo- ple be involved in the movement as we know it? New organizations and movements are emerging, and some younger folks won’t embrace or engage in organiza- tions they consider irrelevant. Has anyone marketed the contempo- rary Civil Rights Movement to younger African Americans? Do we feel that we need to? Do we expect people to show up (where?) and roll their sleeves up, task undefined? How do we get young people involved? Ask them. Sit back and listen, really listen, to their reply. And understand that there are some, not so young, who may also need a nudge to get involved. I am energized, enlightened, and privileged when I am pushed out of my silo. I am grateful to Frenchie Davis, Malik Yoba, Mali Music and Doug E. Fresh for help- ing me connect the drums with the hashtags. The generational con- versation is engaging, frustrating, and effervescent. It is an essential part of our movement for social and economic justices, and its many definitions and experiences. P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ- ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2014 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds Elections: Who Can We Turn to Politically? “W ho can I turn to, when nobody needs me? My heart wants to know, and so I must go where destiny leads me.” Lis- tening to an old album by the Temptations, “In a Mellow Mood,” made me think about the political trick-bag Black folks are in now that Barack is on his way out and the focus is on 2016 pres- idential candidates. I thought about how Black folks are nowhere in the political con- versation, neither on the Democratic nor Republican side. Based on the last mid-term elec- tion, after which pundits said the emphasis must now be placed on White men and Hispanic voters, Blacks find ourselves on the out- side looking in, asking, “Who can I turn to?” Politically, Black voters are obsolete – no longer needed, and in some cases, no longer even wanted. Who can we turn to, now that’s over? Terms such as the “middle class,” “minorities,” “LGBT,” and other nebulous clas- sifications do not identify a group of people who have been in this nation since it began, and do not address our needs or our deserved compensation, in some form or another, for the labor and wealth that we generated. Oh, we are good little boys and girls when it comes carrying the water for the Democrats for the past 80 years or so. We are so Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner April 22, 2015 E CONOMIC E MPOWERMENT James Clingman docile and compliant as we traipse to the polls every four years to choose from the two persons put in front of us by the real powers in this country. It’s nearly always a case of voting for the lesser of two evils — and sometimes the evil of “Who can we turn to?” What is our “destiny,” as the words of that song imply? Where is destiny leading us now? Well, here is what Martin Delany said in his book, The Political destiny of the Colored race on the American Continent, “No people can be free who themselves do not constitute an essential part of the ruling ele- ment of the country in which they live. The liberty of no man is secure who controls not his own destiny. For people to be free they must necessarily be their own rulers.” Will we follow Delany’s lesson or will we continue to be swayed For people to be free they must necessarily be their own rulers two lessers. But we continue to rely on a corrupt political system to do right by us. We are so good at crying in front of statues and on bridges and at gravesites. We are great at listen- ing to rousing speeches that cause us to feel good but never make us go out and “do good” for our- selves. We are so captivated by many of those for whom we vote, and we really believe they will work for us when they get to Washington, rather than work for themselves. Our naiveté is off the charts when it comes to politics, which is now causing us to ask: by U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who says the vote is “sacred” and is the “most powerful” weapon in a democratic society. Will we follow the likes of the “Five M’s” – Mar- cus, Medgar, Malcolm, Martin, and Maynard – or will we contin- ue to slobber over many of today’s politicians who have overstayed their time in office and who have not nor will do anything that specifically benefits Black peo- ple? Abraham Maslow said, “If a hammer is the only tool you have, every problem in front of you will look like a nail.” As the new polit- ical season gets underway, I reiter- ate that although we have a trillion other tools, called dollars, the only tool we have relied upon has been the vote. Thus, we now face a political climate that has absolute- ly no concern for the Black electorate because they already know what we are going to do – and not do. Hillary is the likely choice for Blacks now, even though she will not commit to issues that directly benefit Black people, just as the ones on the Republican side will not. Unless we organize a critical mass of Black people willing to be politically independent, vote (or refuse to vote) as a bloc, and lever- age our dollars against a political system that has no regard for us, we are doomed as a concern in public policy. Another song on that Temps’ album, our political swansong, says, “What now my love, now that you’ve left me? How can I live through another day? Watch- ing my dreams turn into ashes, and my hopes into bits of clay. Once I could see, once I could feel, now I am numb, I’ve become unreal. What now my love, now that it’s over? I feel the world closing in on me. No one would care, no one would cry if I should live or if I should die.” Better yet, why don’t we all join in a chorus of “What kind of fool am I”?
