This year is the 5th year anniversary of the NMAAHC or the National Museum of African American History and Culture. I remembered when it was opened to the public just like yesterday in 2016. I was in my early 30s when it happened. It took over 1 century and many people sacrificing so much for that occurrence to happen. My African American people have been through so much, and that museum is one of many great museums who celebrate the power, beauty, and resiliency of black Americans. We, who are black Americans, survived the most brutal mistreatment in human history to be teachers, doctors, lawyers, judges, activists, architects, athletes, musicians, artists, and other great contributors to society. Also, there is a new exhibit called Make Good The Promises: Reconstruction and its Legacies. This is about how Reconstruction have many historical firsts for black Americans in political power, and the racist far right backlash that ended it to bring in even more Jim Crow apartheid. During these times, we have to stand up and speak up for our human rights. Our human rights are not up for negotiation. They are inborn from God. Our right to advance our own Blackness on our terms without apology is part of our creed. Part of this creed is to also love the black African Diaspora, as we are part of the same human family which originated from Africa.
In our generation, democracy is under threat. You have a Virginia gubernatorial race being close where Youngkin is a Wall Street, Trump supporter. We have democracy vs. autocracy. This is the real situation. We are almost in 2030, and we still have massive police brutality, voter suppression laws, policies against women, and far right terrorists harming doctors who just want to do their jobs. So, we are in a real struggle for our freedoms for real. We were so close for democracy in America to be over on 1/6. Today, we have to use the same earnest inspiration to defend our democracy now. Texas GOP Governor candidate Allen West is arrogant to be in the hospital with COVID, but he refuses to get the vaccine. He is representative of people who follow disinformation instead of scientific facts.
Everyone has heard of the news about Jon Gruden (now former coach of the Raiders) being fired for making offensive emails about black people, about the commissioner of the NFL, about national anthem protests, about women, and about other human beings. We are clear that what he typed has no justification period in private or in public. We don't agree with dehumanizing people with slurs. We don't believe in bigotry and oppression. That is why Gruden (who made these emails for 7 years) has no excuse. He is a grown man. When I was a young adult in the early 2000's, I knew full well that certain language was inappropriate and should never be mentioned in emails or any other place. The former NFL player Keyshawn Johnson told the truth that Gruden has been showing this reprehensible behavior for years. Even years ago, I knew Gruden as a profane talking, disrespectful person. Keyshawn has been vindicated after all of these years. I'm not shocked at Gruden's racist, sexist emails. I'm from Virginia, and people from my state know racism first hand. Gruden is a straight up racist bigot. It isn't just Gruden with this bigotry, but many sports executives too. The lesson here is that no one should use the comments that Jon Gruden has used at all.
In Iowa, Donald Trump made a recent pro-fascist screed. Trump not only has recently supported the actions of the actions of the traitorous insurrectionist Ashli Babbit. He has continued to promote the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. He has embraced political violence in 2016. Trump would probably run again during the 2024 election. Hopefully, he would lose that election if he does run again. Trump was supported by Republican officials at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. The Republican Party is headed by Trump and fascist members of of the GOP. Terroristic, paramilitary militias like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers are armed auxiliaries of this fascist movement. I'm not using hyperbolic or exaggeration here. Right now, far right extremists have threatened and harmed school teachers, nurses, doctors, masked innocent citizens, and other human beings. Trump is a notorious racist by recently saying in October 2021 that many Haitian refugees would bring diseases in America. He is xenophobic too. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Senator Chuck Grassley support this racist extremist Trump. In America, there has been many strikes and protests to stand up for economic rights. While far right Republicans are disgracefully wrong, moderate Democrats seek to disgraceful cut the Build Back Better legislation of money, promote agitation for imperialism overseas, and scapegoat progressives. We know that the January 6 coup plot involved Trump, and other operatives in politics, elements of the police who are allied with reactionaries, and other regressive apparatus of a certain segment of society. We barely survived the coup d'etat attempt on January 6, 2021, and now we must continue to promote our democratic freedoms.
Days ago was the Birthday of one of the greatest MCs in history. She has been ambassador of hip hop for almost 40 years now. She has studied music for a long time, and now she is a total icon of hip hop music. She is Sister MC Lyte (Lana Michele Moorer), and she is now 51 years old. Brooklyn, NYC was the place of her birth. Her songs like Cha Cha Cha and Paper Thin are commonly known. She influenced future MCs like Queen Latifah, Lil Kim, Da Brat, Missy Elliot, Lauryn Hill, and Eve. She worked with Beyonce, Boyz II Men, Xscape, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, etc. MC Lyte is also an expert DJ and philanthropist in real life too. She earned the "I Am Hip Hop" Icon Lifetime Achievement from the BET Hip Hop Awards. She was raised in East Flashbush, Brooklyn. By the time when she was 12 years old, she started to rap. Her original stage name was Sparkle. Later, she worked with many people like Milk Dee and DJ Giz. When she was 16 in 1987, she had her debut single called I Cram to Understand U (Sam). It was a song about the crack era. MC Lyte worked and released her first album called Lyte as a Rock in 1988. She competed against the lyricist Antoinette. Like, she made Eyes on This in 1989 which was her 2nd album. She was on the Stop the Violence Movement with Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, and Heavy D plus others. Their single of Self Destruction was a classic. In 1990, MC Lyte was the first hip hop artist to perform at Carnegie Hall. She had the new jack swing song in 1991 with the album of Act Like You Know. Brandy's I Wanna Be Down song had her, Yo-Yo, and Queen Latifah. She was on the song Freedom with many women. Cold Rock a Party was one of her jams filled with power. Her album of Legend came out in 2015. She was inspired by Sha Rock, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kane, and others. She was on many shows and movies like Moesha and Half and Half. She speaks to inspire future leaders, she founded Hip Hop Sisters Foundation to give scholarships to people, and three $50,000 scholarships were part of its #EducateOurMen initiative. MC Lyte continues to develop her own legacy to this very day. I wish Sister MC Lyte more Blessings.
By Timothy
No comments:
Post a Comment