Opinion
A Young Sister ‘Hashtagged’ Me
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
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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.
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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”?