To be or not to be a slave…

16th March 2015   ·   0 Comments

By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor

Are you a living, breathing modern-day slave?

That’s a question each of us must ask ourselves as we continue on our journey through life in the 21st century? Being a slave isn’t as simple a concept as it once was.

Most people equate the word “slave” with Black people despite the fact that Anglo-Saxons were once enslaved by the Roman Empire, the Japanese enslaved Koreans, and the word originated in Eastern Europe.

Slavery comes in many shades and colors and we can be slaves to everything from fashion, shopping, drugs, alcohol and tobacco to social media and mindless television programming. We can be superstar athletes, college-educated folks, celebrities and millionaires and still exhibit slave proclivities, like feeling the constant need to be the center of attention and/or, a desire to be adored by the masses and a refusal to use one’s brain to address the issues and challenges that confront us all.

Last week, a white CNN guest tried to defend the racist song videotaped by members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Oklahoma by pointing out that the N-word has been used widely by young Blacks and hip-hop artists. Also, in a MSNBC panel discussion Wednesday, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol blamed the racist fraternity song on a “cesspool” of popular culture, sparking a firestorm of remarks on social media.

Twitterverse was abuzz last week with an ever-growing list of “Rap Albums That Caused Slavery.” Among some of the more poignant titles were Get North Or die Tryin’, Massa Said Knock You Out, Straight Outta Cotton, All Eyez On Me At Auction and C.R.E.A.M.: Caucasians Rule Everything Around Me.

The whole time I’m considering these satirical titles, I’m thinking about the NWA music video for “Express Yourself,” where young Black slaves are shown doing the popular “Running Man” dance out in a cotton field when they should have been working. At one point, one of them picks up a rock to send a strong message to “massa” before they all break out running. Needless to say, the overseer was not at all happy with their rhythmic uprising.

Most whites that publicly utter the N-word probably do so because they are confident that they can get away with it. Believe me, most whites know when and where they can get away with using the word. You won’t, for example, see any of the white frat boys yelling out the word at the Hoodie Awards.

Regardless of who uses the word, the N-word has the power to degrade and diminish the dignity of an entire group of people and an ugly, twisted history that dates back several centuries.

While the word is despicable, it has the power to clear our minds and bring us back to reality. While the year may be 2015, this is still America and the great-grandchildren of slaveowners are still making moves to keep Black people disenfranchised and powerless. We are still far from free.

Many of us still don’t get that we can be media moguls, multiplatinum-selling artists, superstar athletes and award-winning actors and still be slaves. In many ways, it is easier to control Blacks who are rich and famous because they are often ruled by their addiction to the good life and a very real fear of having it all taken away. It is not uncommon to find a great deal of self-absorption and unimaginative mindsets among the rich and famous, while those at the bottom of the socioeconomic totem pole are oftentimes more socially and politically conscious because ignorance is a luxury the poor cannot afford.

So I ask you again: Are you a slave?

If the answer is yes, what kind of a slave are you?

More than four decades ago, Bob Marley urged us to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery in the seminal anthem “Redemption Song.” “None but ourselves can free our minds,” he crooned.

It’s time for us to devote our time, energy and undivided attention to freeing our minds and liberating ourselves from all forms of oppression and exploitation by any means necessary.

Let’s start with a little talk about some of the issues that confront us. Here we go:

• Why do you suppose that the U.S. attorney had so much to say about the recent indictment of former OBSB member Ira Thomas and so little to say about the recent rape scandal during which NOPD detectives failed to follow up on 86 percent of sexual assault allegations over a two-year person and ongoing corruption in the police department’s off-duty detail system, which the U.S. Department of Justice itself called the NOPD’s “aorta of corruption”?

• How likely is it that Ira Thomas will be replaced with a school board candidate who is beholden to the city’s white business community, one who will do nothing to challenge educational apartheid in the school system?

• How many people who are frustrated with educational apartheid being administered by the state-run Recovery School District voted to keep the RSD intact?

• With the city and state in such dire financial straits, when is someone in the Legislature going to step up and propose that Tulane University start paying property taxes?

• With the Landrieu administration and the NOPD giving all the credit for last year’s 43-year historic low murder rate to NOLA for Live, who or what are they going to blame for the sharp rise in murders thus far in 2015?

• How many residents who are frustrated and angry about the rise in violent crime in New Orleans voted to re-elect Mayor Mitch Landrieu?

• Why are New Orleans residents allowing BESE member Kira Orange Jones to get away with failing to represent the interests of local families?

• Why is so little being said about the NYC-to-Nola pipeline that keeps sending educational officials and administrators down to the Crescent City to do the bidding of the white business community?

• Why do “blue” lives matter more than the lives of unarmed Black men and boys killed by police?

• Does it really matter if a police chief, mayor, councilmember, school board member or any other elected official is white or Black if he or she is hell-bent on doing the bidding of the white business community?

• How many chiefs does it take to screw up a police department?

• Why didn’t Congressman Cedric Richmond take his GOP pal Rep. Steve Scalise to the 50th anniversary commemoration of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama?

• Why do members of BESE and the Orleans Parish School Board think they can get away with ignoring John F. Kennedy High School alumni who are demanding answers about why the 7th Ward school hasn’t been rebuilt?

• Why is it so hard to get Black folks to fight for causes that they think don’t directly impact them and their families?

• Were you at all turned off by the many “Bloody Selma” participants who seemed to be more interested in taking “selfies” than actually learning something about the history of the Voting Rights Act and the ongoing struggle for equal protection under the law?

• Why do so many people who refuse to read books about the freedom struggle see nothing wrong with tweeting and speaking ad nauseum about U.S. race relations?

• Why are we still allowing the white business community to pick and promote Black leaders and spokesmen?

• Has anyone noticed the tidal wave of gentrification that is sweeping over the entire city of New Orleans and the policies and ordinances that are being put in place to prevent Black residents from having a say in local government?

• Why are there so few Black elected officials who are more afraid of letting down Black voters than they are of losing their political, professional and financial perks?

• When did U.S. congressmen start disrespecting and undermining the President of the United States behind his back in the global community?

• Am I Black enough for you?

This article originally published in the March 16, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.