Do the Right Thing

 “I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, When he beats his bars and he would be free’ It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, A plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-I know why the caged bird sings.”

-Paul Laurence Dunbar-

Wearily we watch as “Black babies face double the risk of dying before their first birthday” (see Gaby Galvin, August 1, 2019).  Tragically, Black teens have the highest probability of becoming a homicide victim.  The most gifted Black child’s life can be halted when a wanton bullet finds its deadly mark.  Black men know that jogging while wearing a “hoodie” and a Covid-19 protective mask could contribute to them being murdered.  Like Sandra Bland, days after a traffic stop arrest, a Black woman can be found dead in a cell, or, as with Breonna Taylor, be aroused from sleeping and murdered during a “botched” police raid.

Far too many Black lives are ones in which hopes are routinely dashed; excruciating pain is daily delivered; spirits are constantly broken; and life is like trying to breath inside a stifling vault.  For no other reason than being Black, these harsh things and more are strapped on Blacks’ backs and, in turn, contribute to the rapid rise in mental illness among Blacks (See Cordilia James and Petersen Pedersen in the Wall Street Journal, July, 21, 2020). 

More than a century after Dunbar wrote the above poem, my father-in-law (Nathaniel S. Colley, Sr.) experienced what all highly accomplished Blacks know, i.e., that “doing the right things” does not provide him/them with a pass to escape the deleterious fate of being born Black in America.  He did his undergraduate work at Tuskegee; earned his law degree from Yale; served as an army officer during World War II; was a NAACP Western Region general counsel; and, while assisting President John F. Kennedy, he agreed to take part in an inspection of military troops stationed in Japan.  

While in Japan, a Japanese citizen sought to understand the extent of White American racism by asking, “Mr. Colley, if you go to Mississippi, will they also put dogs on you too?”  My father-in-law said, “Yes, if I go to Mississippi, they’ll put dogs on me too!”  For the rest of his life, Colley Sr. reminded himself and others that neither his Tuskegee and Yale degrees nor his many distinguished trial lawyer accomplishments would prevent “dogs from being put on him too”  ---that Malcolm X spoke truth when he asked and answered, “What do Whites call a Negro with a PhD?  A Nigger!”

Recently, I had a reminder that “dogs could be put on me too.  The rear deck of my home is about 15 feet from the water that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay.  An armed White police officer walked past my home many evenings and spoke to me as I sat on my deck.  His seemingly friendly “hellos” caused me to have a lapse in judgment, but I was reminded of who I was when I went down to the boardwalk to fish.  

As the White officer approached, I said “Hello,” and he said, “Excuse me, do you live here?” I said “Yes” and, pointing to my home, I added, “I speak to you from that deck behind us when you pass by each evening.”  He said, “Oh and, by the way, you have to move your stool off the boardwalk.  There are no chairs allowed on the boardwalk.”  Noticing the gun strapped on the officer’s hip, I knew being a Black man was in play, not “Dr. Jack L. Daniel, the emeritus Vice Provost and Distinguished Service Professor.”  Hence, I said nothing and moved my stool.  

After the officer left, I thought about what could have happened had I gotten angry, jumped up and asked, “How can you ask me if I live here when, after so many evenings, you passed by my home and spoke to me?”  In minutes, the story could have become, “After fearing for his life, officer accidentally shoots angry man who was breaking the law on residential boardwalk,” followed shortly thereafter with “#Jack L. Daniel, say his name.”

If you are Black in America, then you don’t drive your car; walk down the street; barbecue in a public park; enter your own apartment late at night; fall asleep in the reception area of a dorm hall; attempt to cash a check with “Dr.” in front of your name; or engage in any normal activity without the nagging realization that you could become a fatal statistic.  You can’t be stopped at a red light without the possibility of a White male throwing lighter fluid on you and setting you on fire as was done recently to a Black woman in Wisconsin.  Even in death, as was the case for Congressman John Lewis, racist derived inhumanity was put on full display when, in  their “tributes to John Lewis,” Republican Congressman Marco Rubio and Senator Dan Sullivan mistakenly posted pictures of themselves and Elijah Cummings.  

Notwithstanding the woes of being Black in America, we of good faith will continue to do as John Lewis commanded, i.e., “get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.”  We will do so  because we know, as John Legend sang, “One day when the glory comes; It will be ours, it will be ours; One day… When the war is won; When it's all said and done; We'll cry glory, oh glory.”

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

July 28, 2020

  THE “WALLS” CAME TUMBLING DOWN:

Not just statues, flags, names, and other accouterments of systemic racism

The biblical account of the battle at Jericho indicates that people marched around Jericho for six days and, on the seventh day “…As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city” (Joshua 6:20). Note that the people did not simply enter the city. They also destroyed the city. With this biblical story in mind, one might reflect on the desirable outcomes for the efforts of today’s freedom seeking people who are marching around the “City of Systemic Racism.”

As a result of the many protest marches since George Floyd’s death, we have witnessed things such as the following:

· Princeton University removed the name of former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson from a building on its campus because of his racist beliefs and policies.

· Mississippi lawmakers voted to remove the Confederate battle emblem from its state flag.

· Walmart ended its practice of locking up Black beauty products.

· In a letter to the House Clerk, Speaker Nancy Pelosi requested the "immediate removal" of the portraits of four Speakers who served the Confederacy in various capacities: Robert Hunter of Virginia, Howell Cobb of Georgia, James Orr of South Carolina and Charles Crisp of Georgia.

· NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from all its events.

· PepsiCo decided to change the stereotypical Aunt Jemima name and image. 

· HBO removed “Gone with the Wind” from its offerings.

· Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL was wrong for not listening to players' criticisms of racism. 

As necessary  as the foregoing acts of contrition might be, they are not sufficient for destroying the “City of Systemic Racism.” To do so, for example, Princeton University must destroy all old policies and practices that enabled systemic racism and replace them with new policies and practices that enable timely positive outcomes in terms of equity and social justice throughout the University. Again, the NFL must go beyond updating the Rooney Rule and make good on its promise to hire Blacks in senior positions as well as significantly involve Blacks throughout the business that depends so heavily on Blacks. 

Instead of being satisfied with the outcomes of the recent protest moments, we, the people, must march on through November 2020 and attack the “City of Systemic Racism” by taking control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Presidency. Subsequently, the new national leadership must [1] implement science-based strategies and tactics against Covid-19; and [2] legislatively address things such as lynching, affordable health care, police reform, the cost of higher education, pathways to citizenship, and appropriate wages for essential workers.

Destroying the “City of Systemic Racism” means doing what CNBC reported regarding Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon’s call to action, i.e. “…the country’s top CEOs will look for ways to address racial inequities that span society, from how the world of finance works to how police treat black Americans. In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” McMillon said the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man pinned down by a Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on his neck, has prompted new urgency to do more than just donate money. McMillon, who is chairman of the Business Roundtable, announced the group of business leaders will form a special committee to advance racial equality and justice solutions. ‘What we see is a moment here, a moment where we can make a bigger difference.’”

If we are to destroy the “City of Systemic Racism,” then higher education leaders must do as Pitt’s Chancellor Patrick Gallagher did when he declared, “…In this moment of raw grief and anger, we must plot a path forward. We must find ways to build bridges, listen and empathize—even when it is uncomfortable. And we must demand better of our leaders, holding them accountable by voting and pushing to reform the laws and institutions of our democracy. Working together, we have enormous power to realize change.

…The University of Pittsburgh is a longstanding leader in our region. Yet, for all of our remarkable accomplishments, African Americans living within the Cathedral of Learning’s shadow are still confronting an alarming opportunity gap. We can expand our efforts to translate our work into practice and spur a local renaissance in our surrounding neighborhoods and communities.

Reshaping our university to be more diverse, inclusive and just—while also expanding our reach and impact in promoting social justice—is a significant effort, and we will need to resource and sustain this transformation over time. Because of this, I am putting our nearly complete strategic planning process—which aims to chart Pitt’s course over the next five years—on hold. This pause will give us time to incorporate specific strategies to strengthen our commitments to racial equity and justice. I will need your help in identifying the most promising initiatives in this final plan, and I hope you will participate.”

In a Joshua like fashion, Chancellor Gallagher has launched a process which, with the assistance of the University community as well as the Pittsburgh community, should result in the building of a new “city” from the one now known as the University of Pittsburgh. Let us not stop “marching” until the “walls” preventing equity and social justice at the University have truly come tumbling down. 

“…One day when the glory comes
It will be ours, it will be ours
Oh one day when the war is won
We will be sure, we will be sure
Oh glory (Glory, glory)
Oh (Glory, glory)

Now the war is not over, victory isn't won
And we'll fight on to the finish, then when it's all done
We'll cry glory, oh glory (Glory, glory)
Oh (Glory, glory)
We'll cry glory, oh glory (Glory, glory)
Oh (Glory, glory)”

-John Legend-

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

July 19, 2020

Tricknology: “The techniques of deception and manipulation employed by a dominant group (especially a White majority) to disempower a weaker one (especially a Black minority)”

The racist tricknology referenced herein is related to how some devious Whites, along with their willing Black workers, flip the “Brer Rabbit” script and the “rabbit” is duped by the “fox.”  These Machiavellian types know very well what constitutes White privilege; that there are health and wealth disparities as a function of systemic racism; and that it is White racism when a Black man is murdered by a White cop who keeps his knee on the neck of the handcuffed Black man for more than 8 minutes!  However, when brutal incidents trigger urban insurrections, then the following scenario plays out.  

• The “fox” immediately cries crocodile tears and, after a hearty cry, the “fox” declares her/his intentions “to do something significant, if not radical,” to address racism.

• The “fox” begs for the “rabbit” to  explain “White racism,” to describe “what it is like to be the recipient of “racism,” to “help me understand so that I can do the right thing(s)”  because “Black lives matter.”

• The “rabbit” throws the “fox” into her/his “home”/comfort zone by spending inordinate amounts of time explaining White racism to the “fox.” 

• The “rabbit” and “fox” “discuss and discuss racism until it becomes disgusting” and the “rabbit” finds her/himself “sick and tired of being sick and tired”  —all while nothing of significance is done to halt the racism pandemic.  

Having deployed the foregoing tricknology, the racism pandemic marches on as evidenced by Ferguson essentially being Ferguson six years later; the NFL being without more Black coaches having been hired years after implementing the Rooney Rule; and White cops keep on killing Blacks as White racism is being explained to Whites who know all too well the nature of racism given that they too are likely practitioners.

As Blacks explain White racism, police misconduct flourishes, e.g., two Buffalo officers knocked a 75-year old man down, causing him a serious injury and no police assisted the man who lay bleeding on the ground.  After the two perpetrators were suspended without pay, 57 members of Buffalo’s police emergency team resigned from the unit.  During this time period, we witnessed six Atlanta officers get charged after they pulled two Black college students out of their car, smashed in their windows, and used a stun gun on them.  And, just as police misused a helicopter to clear D.C. streets for 45 to do a photo opportunity, back in February 2020, police escorted masked White nationalists when they marched in D.C.  

As tired, worn down, duped Blacks explain White racism to the powers that be, Black unemployment remains in a depression-like state. The June 6-7, 2020 Wall Street Journal reported, “…The jobless rate fell to 13.3% from April’s 14.7%, a post-World War II high.”  Note that 13.3% was an “overall” number and that unemployment rates for Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites were  17.6%, 16.8%, and 12.4% respectively.  Thus, Hispanic and Black unemployment remained higher than the nation’s historical high.

Having fallen victim to the tricknology, little if anything takes place regarding the development of Black wealth via home ownership.  For example, Linda Lutton, Andrew Fan, and Alden Loury observed that, in Chicago, “68.1% of dollars loaned for housing purchases went to majority-white neighborhoods, while just 8.1% went to majority-black neighborhoods and 8.7% went to majority-Latino neighborhoods…” (June 3, 2020).

As with no gains for Blacks in home ownership, there are no gains in terms of closing the educational achievement gap.  Instead, the June 6, 2020 New York Times article indicated, “New research suggests that by September, most students will have fallen behind where they would have been if they had stayed in classrooms, with some losing the equivalent of a full school years’ worth of academic gains. Racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps will most likely widen because of disparities in access to computers, home internet connections and direct instruction from teachers…”  

Explaining racism to Whites does very little in terms of reducing the systemic factors that make race a critical factor when deciding whether to put a parent in a nursing home.  We know that “…Covid-19 has been particularly virulent toward African-Americans and Latinos: Nursing homes where those groups make up a significant portion of the residents — no matter their location, no matter their size, no matter their government rating — have been twice as likely to get hit by the coronavirus as those where the population is overwhelmingly white…” (New York Times, May 21, 2020).

Whites have had sufficient opportunities to learn about White racism, having practiced and benefited from it for several centuries.  Therefore, Blacks must  “flip the script” and have White folks explain what specifically they are going to do to end White racism!  Whites should “put some skin in the game” by doing things such as the following: 

• Take any one of the existing police reform plans and implement actions steps that end the murders of Blacks and other forms of police brutality.  

• Never again hire a less-qualified White instead of a higher-qualified Black.

• Stop all “red lining” related to the purchase of homes.

• Use federal, state, and local public dollars to end the systemic causes of Black health, income, wealth, and educational disparities.

• Implement effective gun legislation, including taking weapons of mass destruction off the streets of urban America.

• In 2020, implement a voting tsunami that washes away the “principalities in high places.”  

• At the end of 2020, as a New Year’s gift, explain to Blacks how the foregoing was accomplished.

For any who still insist that they don’t understand White racism, please binge watch the murder of George Floyd or the horrendous circumstances related to the deaths of Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Breonna Taylor.  Then listen to Billie Holiday sing, 

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant South

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolia, sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

PITTSBURGH, PA (May 29, 2020)—The following is a message Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Chief Scott Schubert sent bureau-wide at 6 a.m. today. Public Safety is releasing it publicly in response to questions from the public and media about PBP’s response to the tragic and senseless death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Colleagues,

I'm certain many of you have by now viewed the video of George Floyd’s in-custody death in Minneapolis on May 25.

Like you, I was deeply disturbed and saddened by what I saw.

This is not how we are trained to restrain people and it's not what we stand for as police officers.

Regardless of the original crime or what occurred prior to the arrest, a person in handcuffs and face-down on the ground should not lose their life due to the action or in action of the involved officers. It was difficult to watch Mr. Floyd pleading for help and gasping for breath before saying his final words—all while pedestrians frantically pleaded with officers to help him. I simply cannot comprehend the actions of the officers or their lack of moral courage and duty to intervene and stop the action before it was too late. My prayers are with Mr. Floyd and his family during this most difficult time.

As police officers, we have a fundamental duty to care for and safeguard everyone and anyone in our custody. That did not occur with this particular incident. A man was de prived of his life, a family was deprived of their loved one, a community was deprived of their faith in the people who are entrusted to keep them safe and our noble profession was deprived of its legitimacy by the incomprehen sible and senseless actions of a few. There was no consideration for the value of human life and that is inexcusable. These officers don’t represent any of us in law enforcement and must face the consequences for their actions! We are better than this. We must continue to do what's right. 

I'm thankful for the men and women of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. I know the high level of training each of you have received and I know firsthand the high level of professionalism, bravery, courage and compassion our officers display on a daily basis. We have sworn an oath and I trust that all of us will use our moral courage to intervene when we see something wrong. We owe it to each another, we owe it to our noble profession and we owe it to the community we protect and serve.

I have asked the Academy to review this senseless death and share additional information that can help reinforce our training and policies. Excessive force is unacceptable and will not be tolerated at any level.

Thank you for your commitment to selfless service. Please stay safe and healthy!

Scott

Chief Scott E. Schubert

City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police

THOSE WHO HAVEN’T  FIGURED OUT 

WHETHER TO VOTE FOR TRUMP AIN’T BLACK

It is very problematic for anyone to define the essential factors for being Black.  Over several centuries, Blacks have struggled to specify the collective noun by which they are to be identified and, in turn, articulate the attendant beliefs, behaviors and values associated with names such as “Negro, Colored, Afro-American, African American, and Black.”  Regardless of the appellation used, it has always been a well-known fact that “all skin-folk ain’t kin-folk!” Nevertheless, one “litmus test” to be or not to be Black is offered herein, i.e., [1] the extent to which a racially Black person acts in ways that advance Blacks’ pursuit of freedom, justice and equality and, conversely, [2] the extent to which a racially Black person consciously acts in ways to retard Blacks’ pursuit of freedom, justice and equality.  

With the foregoing in mind, consider a few iconic examples of “skin-folk who ain’t kin-folk” and, therefore, not Black regardless to whether their skin color is “light bright and damn near White,” “teasing tan,” “mellow yellow,” “paper bag brown,” or “indigo black.”    

• The Slave Snitch.  The Slave Snitch caused other slaves to be killed by doing things such as inform the slave master when slaves were planning to run away or warn the master when freedom-loving slaves plotted to  burn crops in the field.  They were brainwashed to believe “servant obey thy master” was applicable to them and their White master.  The Slave Snitch was a traitor to his/her people, a real “Judas” who never got rewarded with pieces of silver but rather with something as simple as a pat on the head and leftover food from the master’s table.

• The Tragic Mulatto.  The Tragic Mulatto was not Black because he/she had a minimal amount of “Black” blood.  The disqualifying factors for the Tragic Mulatto were things such as [1] self-hatred based on their belief that their minimum amount of “Black” blood reduced them to something less than human; and [2] they were in such agony about not being “pure White” that they did things such as attempt to “pass for White;” detest any positive cultural phenomenon ascribed to being Black such as the creation of the spirituals and jazz; and they were as willing as any White racist to take actions that denied freedom, justice and equality for Black people. 

• The Brown-Tongue Sycophant.  This groveling, obsequious, backside-licking person will “kiss up” to and do the bidding for White racists, e.g., oppose economic programs to aid Black businesses even though the same programs are used to aid White businesses; fight against progressive programs that result in justice and equity on college campuses; stymie efforts to provide Blacks with affordable housing; and advance educational policies that are known to sustain achievement gaps.  They take great delight in being “poster children” for movements against affirmative action, voting rights acts, reducing Black maternal mortality, and other forms of social justice.  

• The Demented Sociopath.  We know these demented folks by the death and destruction they cause for other Blacks when they sell guns, dope, drugs, and other poisons in Black oppressed communities.  They shamelessly sell Black bodies for sex as well as write and sing filthy lyrics about Black women.  These are the lacking in consciousness pons who produce the annual records of Black homicides.  Properly miseducated and infused with self-hatred, they help deliver hell on earth for Black people.  

• House Negro.  As Malcolm X described the House Negro, “His master’s pain was his pain. And it hurt him more for his master to be sick than for him to be sick himself. When the master’s house started burning down, that type of Negro would fight harder to put out the fire than the master himself would.”  

As sad/sick as the foregoing “skin-folk who ain’t kin folk” might be, it is very important to remember that, as with the House Negro, they are the minority of Black folk regardless of how conspicuous they might be.  As Malcolm X noted, “…the field Negroes were the masses. They were in the majority. When the master got sick, they prayed that he’d die. If his house caught on fire, they'd pray for a wind to come along and fan the breeze.”  Today, the masses of Blacks know for certain that Trump must go and will vote for him to do so!  Therefore, one is left to wonder how a few outlying “skin-folk” got so confused about whether to vote for Trump.”

It might well be that we are in the presence of the “Jonestown Effect,” a situation in which [1] cult members got drawn into a universe of “alternative facts,” habitual lying (18,000 by Trump since he took office), and, for various reasons, [2] these confused souls “drank the Kool Aid” poured in the form of “What have you got to lose?”  Once they drank from the poisonous cup, 2+2 no longer equaled 4 and racism, however blatantly expressed, was not racism.  Lost and confused, truly bamboozled, the following bizarre thinking occurred.  

• Trump could not have had me in mind when he derided people from “shit hole countries.”  

• It was not racism when, in 1989, Trump paid about $100,000 for ads calling for the execution of the innocent “Central Park Five.”  

• There is nothing racist about Trump’s “birther” attacks on President Barack Obama or Trump’s recent refusal to hold a ceremony for hanging President Obama’s portrait in the White House.  

• When Trump’s spewed racist phlegm regarding Hispanic immigrants being rapists and murders, he was just engaged in “campaign rhetoric” and he most certainly did not believe the same things about African and Caribbean immigrants.

• Trump was simply being objective, not racist, when he claimed there were some “very nice people” among the White Nationalists who ran amuck in Charlottesville.  He was telling the truth when he said he did not know the White supremacist leader David Duke who endorsed him.

• Although he initially called Coronavirus a hoax, delayed action steps, and said nothing the day we reached  100,000 American deaths, including disproportionate numbers of Blacks, Trump cares more about the loss of human life than the economy.    

• Trump is not attempting to stifle the Black vote by attacking the use of absentee ballots.  He is just trying to make America great again by preserving democracy.

• Trump is simply being respectful given that he tweets profusely but said nothing to condemn a policeman who kneeled on a Black man’s neck until he died.

• Trump might be a little homophobic, xenophobic, and misogynistic but he is not racist. 

The miniscule number of “skin-folk” who might be figuring out whether to vote for Trump could resolve their dilemma by recalling that chickens don’t deliberate whether to not only permit the fox to guard but also take up residence in the hen house.  If this common sense does not register, then recall the indecisiveness of those minorities who wondered whether to support Adolf Hitler as he rose to power.  As for one who would use the Black masses to help replace Trump, remember “there’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip” and, therefore, “don’t count your chickens before they hatch!”

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

May 29, 2020