“Street knowledge amazes the scholars when we coin phrases for dollars...”
—Jay-Z, from the song, “Bring
it On”
Ronald
Stallworth was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 18th,
1953. A few years later, his mother moved him and his family to El
Paso, Texas, where he was raised. And in the summer of 1972, his
family moved again to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he developed an interest in law enforcement.
After
becoming a police cadet, and a rookie cop, In 1979, Ron was hired on
as the first Black detective in the Colorado Springs police
department. Mind you, as a detective, Ron was initially assigned to the records
room, where he was reviled by his bigoted white co-workers,
before he requested to go out in the field.
And Ron's very first undercover assignment, was to “observe” a Stokely Carmichael speech, when brotha Stokely was slated to speak at a “Black nightclub”. Ron eagerly accepted the task—and after his surveillance of the Carmichael lecture came off without a hitch, Ron was assigned to the “intelligence” department.
Understand, the first thing Colorado law enforcement had Ron do, was spy on Stokely, at a Black club. Notice, they didn't have him solve any local crimes or track down any fugitives, they had him watching someone who was associated with the Black Power movement. And unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the “leaders” in the Black Conscious Community (BCC), have followed this same trajectory. Only difference is, the majority of the leaders in the BCC were ex-cons, before they were indoctrinated into white fascist freemasonry, and inserted into the BCC.
Well, one day, while going about his detective duties, Ron stumbled on an ad for the Colorado Springs chapter of the KKK. He called the ad's number pretending to be a white man, and once Ron's verbal slight-of-hand got him accepted into the klan's ranks, he teamed up with a jewish co-worker by the name of Flip Zimmerman, who would play Ron when he physically had to meet with klan members. And mind you, this is based on a true story, where Ron not only got to talk to the now infamous grand wizard of the klan, David Duke, but where he actually meets him in the flesh, due to an assignment he got to provide security for Dave.
Now, the team surrounding Ron's infiltration of the klan, was tasked with stopping a violent mission they had against Colorado's Black populus—but understand, that's not the focus of this post.
Moreover, I'm sure this movie is as entertaining as it is informative, and I'm glad Spike is getting some of the accolades he so rightly deserves, but, I haven't yet seen this flick. And while I do plan to go check it out in the future, what I'm more focused on, has to do with a line of dialogue in this flick's trailer, that I think everyone's heard. Cause it speaks to the very nucleus of the world's gold standard of cultural currency.
Raymond
Lawrence Riley, better known as “Boots” Riley (left), was born on April
1st, 1971 in Chicago, Illinois (another Chi-town native,
like Ron Stalworth), and by the time he was 6, Boots' family had
moved to Detroit, Michigan, before settling down in Oakland,
California.
Boots' parents were community activists and organizers, which informed Boots' political ideologies, and had him joining the “International Committee against Racism” and the “Progressive Labor Party”, at ages 14 and 15 respectively.
Boots bought his political bent to a budding musical career, when he formed the Hip-Hop group, “The Coup”, in 1991, with a UPS co-worker of his, who called herself “Pam the Funkstress”. He was the emcee, and she, the DJ.
In 1992, The Coup was signed to the recording label, “Wild Pitch Records/EMI”, and their first album released in 1993, was called, “Kill my landlord”. The album spawned two singles, “Dig it” and “Not Yet Free”, and their videos aired on “BET” and “Yo! MTV Raps”. Now, beyond this, the group has gotten a lot of critical acclaim for it's politically conscious rap music, and their discography is as follows: “Genocide and Juice” (1994), “Steal this album” (1998), “Party Music” (2001), and “Pick a Bigger Weapon” (2006).
Now, while Boots embarked on his musical endeavors, he took some time to teach a daily high school class that he called, “Culture and Resistance, The Art of Persuasive Writing”, at the School of Social Justice and Community Development, in East Oakland, California. And even more recently, he's parlayed his lyrical talents into screen-writing. The result of this being his script for the recently released flick, “Sorry to Bother You”, which was distributed in theaters on July of this year.
Now, the basic premise of this film is this: a young African-american telemarketer, Cassius “Cash” Green, adopts a white accent to excel at his job, and once he does, he gets swept into a conspiracy where he has to choose whether or not he'll make money at humanity's expense, or join his activist friends to organize laborers. And for those who don't know, this is a subject that's dear to Boots' heart, cause he recently came out as a “communist”.
Now, a few weeks ago, I was walking a downtown street, when I saw a church with a rainbow flagged banner across it's front window. Now, I know this is the universally accepted symbol for gays, but when I looked at the writing on this particular banner, I saw the terms, “queer”, “lesbian”, “bi-sexual”, “transgender”, etc., and in big white block letters next to these terms, the phrase, “It's all good” was featured.
Now, you might be asking yourself, bruh—this stuff is nice to know, but what the heck do these things have in common?
Welp, like I've said previously, the gold standard of cultural currency the world over, is Black Street Cred—and that's what these 2 flicks and the gay christian church, are exploiting.
First off, in the case of Spike Lee's “BlacKKKlansman”, there's a particular line of dialogue in the film's “official trailer”, that's uttered when the Ron Stallworth character, played by Denzel Washington's son, John David (JD), is asked by the supervisory cop if he can pull off having two Ron Stallworths for this operation—and JD says, “With the right white man, we can do anything.”
Now, couple this with Boots' “Sorry to Bother You”, where his main character “Cash” adopts a “white voice” to excel on his job—and the gay christian church's use of our vernacular (It's all good), and you'll see how whitey is trying to legitimatize these movies, and the insipidly conflicted gay/christian church, with the world's most revered cultural currency, “Black Cool Points”.
Don't believe me? Then check out the latest commercials for Target, Old Navy, McDonalds, KFC, Walmart, H&R Block, Dominoes Pizza, etc. And you'll see that every one of 'em, is using our “cool points” to sell their wares.
Later...
And Ron's very first undercover assignment, was to “observe” a Stokely Carmichael speech, when brotha Stokely was slated to speak at a “Black nightclub”. Ron eagerly accepted the task—and after his surveillance of the Carmichael lecture came off without a hitch, Ron was assigned to the “intelligence” department.
Now,
let's stop here a sec'.
Understand, the first thing Colorado law enforcement had Ron do, was spy on Stokely, at a Black club. Notice, they didn't have him solve any local crimes or track down any fugitives, they had him watching someone who was associated with the Black Power movement. And unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the “leaders” in the Black Conscious Community (BCC), have followed this same trajectory. Only difference is, the majority of the leaders in the BCC were ex-cons, before they were indoctrinated into white fascist freemasonry, and inserted into the BCC.
Well, one day, while going about his detective duties, Ron stumbled on an ad for the Colorado Springs chapter of the KKK. He called the ad's number pretending to be a white man, and once Ron's verbal slight-of-hand got him accepted into the klan's ranks, he teamed up with a jewish co-worker by the name of Flip Zimmerman, who would play Ron when he physically had to meet with klan members. And mind you, this is based on a true story, where Ron not only got to talk to the now infamous grand wizard of the klan, David Duke, but where he actually meets him in the flesh, due to an assignment he got to provide security for Dave.
Now, the team surrounding Ron's infiltration of the klan, was tasked with stopping a violent mission they had against Colorado's Black populus—but understand, that's not the focus of this post.
Moreover, I'm sure this movie is as entertaining as it is informative, and I'm glad Spike is getting some of the accolades he so rightly deserves, but, I haven't yet seen this flick. And while I do plan to go check it out in the future, what I'm more focused on, has to do with a line of dialogue in this flick's trailer, that I think everyone's heard. Cause it speaks to the very nucleus of the world's gold standard of cultural currency.
But
we'll get to that a bit later in this post...
Boots' parents were community activists and organizers, which informed Boots' political ideologies, and had him joining the “International Committee against Racism” and the “Progressive Labor Party”, at ages 14 and 15 respectively.
Boots bought his political bent to a budding musical career, when he formed the Hip-Hop group, “The Coup”, in 1991, with a UPS co-worker of his, who called herself “Pam the Funkstress”. He was the emcee, and she, the DJ.
In 1992, The Coup was signed to the recording label, “Wild Pitch Records/EMI”, and their first album released in 1993, was called, “Kill my landlord”. The album spawned two singles, “Dig it” and “Not Yet Free”, and their videos aired on “BET” and “Yo! MTV Raps”. Now, beyond this, the group has gotten a lot of critical acclaim for it's politically conscious rap music, and their discography is as follows: “Genocide and Juice” (1994), “Steal this album” (1998), “Party Music” (2001), and “Pick a Bigger Weapon” (2006).
Now, while Boots embarked on his musical endeavors, he took some time to teach a daily high school class that he called, “Culture and Resistance, The Art of Persuasive Writing”, at the School of Social Justice and Community Development, in East Oakland, California. And even more recently, he's parlayed his lyrical talents into screen-writing. The result of this being his script for the recently released flick, “Sorry to Bother You”, which was distributed in theaters on July of this year.
And
mind you, Boots not only created the movie's soundtrack, but he also
directed this flick.
Now, the basic premise of this film is this: a young African-american telemarketer, Cassius “Cash” Green, adopts a white accent to excel at his job, and once he does, he gets swept into a conspiracy where he has to choose whether or not he'll make money at humanity's expense, or join his activist friends to organize laborers. And for those who don't know, this is a subject that's dear to Boots' heart, cause he recently came out as a “communist”.
Moving on...
Now, a few weeks ago, I was walking a downtown street, when I saw a church with a rainbow flagged banner across it's front window. Now, I know this is the universally accepted symbol for gays, but when I looked at the writing on this particular banner, I saw the terms, “queer”, “lesbian”, “bi-sexual”, “transgender”, etc., and in big white block letters next to these terms, the phrase, “It's all good” was featured.
I
just shook my head and kept walking.
Now, you might be asking yourself, bruh—this stuff is nice to know, but what the heck do these things have in common?
Welp, like I've said previously, the gold standard of cultural currency the world over, is Black Street Cred—and that's what these 2 flicks and the gay christian church, are exploiting.
At
this point, you might be thinkin', I don't see the connection—well
let me break it down right quick...
First off, in the case of Spike Lee's “BlacKKKlansman”, there's a particular line of dialogue in the film's “official trailer”, that's uttered when the Ron Stallworth character, played by Denzel Washington's son, John David (JD), is asked by the supervisory cop if he can pull off having two Ron Stallworths for this operation—and JD says, “With the right white man, we can do anything.”
Now, couple this with Boots' “Sorry to Bother You”, where his main character “Cash” adopts a “white voice” to excel on his job—and the gay christian church's use of our vernacular (It's all good), and you'll see how whitey is trying to legitimatize these movies, and the insipidly conflicted gay/christian church, with the world's most revered cultural currency, “Black Cool Points”.
And
let me break this down even further...
whitey
is using our voice (and vernacular) to speak his superiority into
existence. And he's doing this through characters like Ron and Cash.
Now,
a lot of you are probably thinking, bruh, you're just fishin' for
stuff now—whitey don't need us to legitimatize his superiority,
he's already good wit' that. But what we need to realize is, our
voice, more than any other, is what manifests into any kind of currency, whether it be spiritual or monetary. Thus, Jay-Z's pithy lyric: "Street knowledge amazes the scholars when we coin phrases for dollars". And mind you, I'm not a fan of Jay-Z's, but that rhyme encapsulates what Black Street Cred really does.
Don't believe me? Then check out the latest commercials for Target, Old Navy, McDonalds, KFC, Walmart, H&R Block, Dominoes Pizza, etc. And you'll see that every one of 'em, is using our “cool points” to sell their wares.
Everyone of 'em.
So,
I've said all that to say this: if you do enough research into any art or science, not only will you find Black men
and women at its genesis, but you'll see, it's our spirituality that's running not only this world, but the entire universe. And don't take my word for it, do some research on Africa's “Dogon” people, and you'll see how spiritually and technologically advanced they were—thousands of years before whitey existed.
And
this is just one mo' reason, you should go to the mirror, smile,
and say...
I
LOVE BEING BLACK!
And
mean it.
Later...
—MontUHURU
Mimia
P.S
Here's
the trailer for “BlacKKKlansman”. Now, I want you to watch out
for the line, “With the right white man, we can do anything”. And
note how important it is that this line is uttered by J.D. Washington,
and not the white officers around him.
P.P.S.
Here's the trailer for “Sorry to Bother You”. And the part I want you to focus on most, is when Danny Glover tells Cash to use his “white voice”, if you wanna' make money here.
Here's the trailer for “Sorry to Bother You”. And the part I want you to focus on most, is when Danny Glover tells Cash to use his “white voice”, if you wanna' make money here.
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