Published: Tuesday - September 25, 2007
Words by Edwyn Huang
People preparing to march in support of the Jena 6 (Photo: AP)
This is a great article (see "Just. Everyday. Nigga. Activity. (JENA)"). You nailed it right on the head. A lot of the minority leadership is confused and more concerned with photo ops and getting press than they are with actually changing the situation. This Jena 6 situation is horrible. It's a "we caught you situation" and it's absolutely the right thing to make a big stink about and show people that racism is alive in America. But, soon, people from the dominant culture will get smart and they won't be committing outright acts of racism like this and the media will tell us racism is dead. Unfortunately, it will always be here, people just won't excercise their racism in manners as outright as it was in Jena because they don't want to get put on blast.
The problem is education and access to it. Even if you want to research these cases, you probably don't have the economic resources. A lot of cases aren't available online and you need legal research databases that cost $18 per SEARCH. We don't have the economic resources to make a difference because we're too busy giving our money back to big corporations that don't give a damn about us like: Nike, Best Buy, Sprint, T-mobile, Fox News, Myspace, Star Magazine, People Magazine, etc.
It's good people got angry, but it was for one day. I know people who went down to Jena, but a lot of them were people who I never hear or see being active in the community about these issues. I'm afraid that with all the talk about this being a once in a lifetime event, people will treat it as their once in a lifetime moment to contribute. I hope people keep the momentum going because the media took the once in a generation approach as well.
They're gonna cover this story for one day and then go right back to blasting us with images of OJ to try and stigmatize minority communities as deviant all over again and make this idiot's actions a race thing. They're going to go back to following around Britney Spears and broadcasting Chris Crocker Youtube footage. Why do they do it? Because they can and because minorities don't own any major media outlets where we can present the news and choose what we want to see, read, and hear about.
We need to educate ourselves cause no one is going to do it for us. And, you don't need a protest to make a difference. I'll be honest. I don't really go to protests because they're many times unproductive. The best thing to do is create a community of people who want to learn more, read more, change the globe (as Nas said). It starts with yourself, the people you talk to, soon you wake up the neighborhood, you get your damn Facebook group or weblog, and you start spreadin the word. Don't wait for Al Sharpton to get you on the bus, you can do it right from your computer these days. And the most influential way is at the checkout line. Be careful what you buy!!
As consumers, we should demand more from the companies that we buy from. What are they giving back to us? I want more than whats in this package, bag, or box. Even artists in hip-hop that we support. These people all have an opportunity to speak to the masses and they should be maximizing that opportunity and educating while entertaining, or, if you're not educating, at least be mufuggin real. It doesn't happen enough. I'm not attacking hip-hop and I expect people in other industries to do the same, but they won't. Hip-hop is for us and that's why we have to demand more from it. And most importantly, minorities whether racial minorities or ideological minorities, we gotta support each other regardless of our differences. Don't let dominant culture divide and conquer us!
Editorials & Columns Hustle Harder: Travel Arrangements Recently I traveled down to Washington D.C. to participate in an event called the "Million DJ March," and I realized ... full story
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