Real Talk

Random Facebook Ruminations on Malcolm X

 by JuJuan Buford

So a fellow facebook friend (and genuinely beautiful person) asked the following question of me. The words came rapid fire full of grammatical errors, however I thought the question was interesting. Here's my take.

Hey JuJuan, if Brother Malcolm were here today, what do u thinking he would be doing now? I always wonder about that. Whatever it would be, it would be extraordinary, but what do u think?

It's difficult to project because Brother Malcolm was transitioning (maturing). He would have definitely been operating much more on an international playing field as opposed to operating primarily in the U.S. The pressure he would have bro...ught to bear upon the U.S. internationally for the conditions that exist in this country would have been a real headache to the US government. More time focused in and on Africa. Given the demographic shift that was rapidly occuring during his time, Brother Malcolm's influence in urban centers would have been something to marvel at. His gritty style, yet excoriating sophistication would have appealed to alot of disaffected, frustrated citizens.

It's so hard to tell. Black America would be so much different now, if the homicidal tendencies of this government were fettered. Malcolm & Martin receive the most attention. But so many were cut down...so many. The psychological trauma of ...watching so many get cut down did the most damage to freedom movements in this country. Coupled with the outright war on black men (the conditions of the warfare have become so common place now that it's normalized for us, and that's scary as hell), the black community has become demasculated. Brother Malcolm's presence, among us others would have offered their voices up in such a manner to offset the psychological offensive.

Remember as well. Back then, our leaders were willing to take people to task. The type of nonsense that occurs today wouldn't have much space. Malcolm that the street cred and the intellectual chops to really put his foot in someone's ass.

 

Isn't it amazing how intractable race is in this country. It is truly a sickness. Just consider how much more could be accomplished if people in this country (the world for that matter) just got over it. If an individual is smart, they are smart. If they are industrious they are industrious.

Intelligence, leadership, benevolence, and courage. They know no color.

W.E.B. DuBois was so incredibly prophetic, unfortunately. What a waste of potential. The Creator must shake his head sometimes with pure disdain I tell yah. For all of our ingenuity, human beings are just plain stupid most of the time. And we have the nerve to look down upon monkeys.

JuJuan Buford

Remembering Malcolm

by JuJuan Buford

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz aka Malcolm X was so ahead of his time. I grow a little somber when I reflect on the fact that given the ahistorical character of most African American households and a mainstream media that is determined to shield people from who he was, most will never really appreciate his significance.

One of the most constructive and salient arguments Malcolm outlined before his death was the idea that people of African descent should be pursuant upon our human rights, as opposed to civil rights. It's such a powerful statement. Indeed, the history of Africans throughout the diaspora is inextricably connected. The experience of African Americans cannot be measured within the small confines of U.S. society, nor should our strivings be relegated within these confines.

 

 

Back to the Future: Chinese Neocolonialism in Africa «

Back to the Future: Chinese Neocolonialism in Africa

October 17, 2010 by asabagna

 

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3 Votes

While the world watched and celebrated the rescue of 33 Chilean miners on Wednesday, 11 Zambian miners were shot and wounded by Chinese managers on Friday when they were presenting their grievences about poor working conditions. This same mine was shut down in January of this year because of a cholera outbreak due to po

via afrospear.com

When is change going to come?

JuJuan Buford

World of Mouth

"The two parties have combined against us to nullify our power by a ‘gentleman's agreement' of non-recognition, no matter how we vote ... May God write us down as asses if ever again we are found putting our trust in either the Republican or the Democratic Parties."

W.E.B. DuBois

World of Mouth

by JuJuan Buford

This is a comment posted on The Huffington Post, in response to an article by Sophia A. Nelson titled Jeanine Garafolo on Racism - Why She is Way off Base  Pretty refreshing if I do say so myself.

 

BarryChamplain   12:53 AM on 4/29/2009

109 Fans

Perhaps you were taken aback by the level of response to your essay because maybe America... Black, white, Asian, Muslim, ethnicity to be named later... is getting sick of having "Black Conservative commentators" paraded in front of them, as some type of legitimate demographic.

I've always felt that any glib person of color who needed a gig, could simply re-market his- or herself as a so-called "Black Conservative", and make a nice living (then I discovered Michael Steele had pretty much jumped the shark on the whole art form).

Listen, I'm WHITE, okay? And even I have the presence of mind to realize that if I were unfortunate enough to have a run-in with a police officer, the odds are great that I will emerge from the confrontation ALIVE.

Now, ask any mother (who isn't You) of a Black Male in America, if they share that same confidence.

Which is why I really don't care to hear how the poor, White (we're CAPITALIZING this, now?) citizens of Teabaggistan are feeling "under assault right now". I'm real darn sorry that their sense of entitlement as born A-list Americans has been rendered ridiculous by the inevitability of time.

But they really oughta get over it. And, as lucrative as it is for you to flaunt your Urban Cred in the court of punditry, you really have no right to diss Janeane Garofalo for publicly denouncing (very real) racism, if you haven't the character to do it yourself.

Why I'm Not a Sellout Because Sometimes I Disagree With Obama

Who You Callin’ Uncle Tom?

Just because I disagree with the conventional black political thinking does not make me a sellout. And I’m not any less black than you.

• By: Sophia Nelson | Posted: October 30, 2009 at 2:00 PM

 

 

  http://www.theroot.com/views/who-you-callin-uncle-tom#

No. Disagreeing with our POTUS does not make anyone a sell out. However, what makes individuals like Clarence Thomas, Ward Connerly, and perhaps the author (don't know enough about her) so nauseating is the idea that they support initiatives, flood the market place of ideas with, and champion causes that are antithetical to the well being Black America; despite many of them being benefactors of the same policies and movements they decry. That is why they are sellouts.

Nelson likening herself to folks of the same ilk as Thomas makes her suspect.

 

JuJuan Buford

 

I was always a good poet. Life experience made me a great poet - Sun, Nov. 28, 2010

J.S. Buford

World of Mouth

 

Y'all wanna know, why he don't stop
Y'all wanna know, why he don't flop
Let me tell you pe-eople why
Came from the bottom of the block I
When I was born, it was sworn, I was never gon' be shit
Had to pull the opposite out this bitch

My 1rst Song - Jay-Z

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boondocks Spoof of Will I am & President Barack Obama

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was just too hilarious to resist. Just the perfect combination of ignance and truth. The Boondocks way.

What Black America (Detroit Specifically) Can Learn From the Tea Party

 by JuJuan Buford

 

The so-called Tea Party movement has been ridiculed, maligned, dismissed, but you know what, they were extremely effective. The tempest of dispraise regarding the Tea Party throughout the media and from all corners – including interestingly enough their primary benefactors the Republican Party – of the political spectrum has been so complete that there is really no need to bludgeon them in this blog.

The irony of the aforementioned is that the one community that has exhibited the most umbrage regarding the underlying motivations and vitriol exhibited by the Tea Party could benefit the most from their example: Black America.

Principled Stubbornness can be a virtue. I recall listening to an interview broadcasted on NPR WUOM Michigan Radio a number of weeks ago regarding a local Tea Party organization. The organizers spoke with an uncompromising fervor as it related to their cause. No amount of criticism, not even from their benefactors would dissuade them. The intellectually obtuse nature of their arguments, the in many respects justified characterizations of their antics as racist outbursts, the lack of coherent policy initiatives, etc., etc., meant nothing to them…they were committed to the end.

How often have initiatives birthed within African American communities died on the vine whenever those who reside outside of said communities articulate the slightest hint of disfavor? How many times have I heard the argument that our POTUS has no special obligation to Black America? How many times have Detroiters voted for representatives who fail (or to be honest choose not to) to deliver the goods: employment opportunities, small business initiatives, and or policies that empower and build up its citizens.

Ever hear of the squeaky wheel getting the oil? Birds chirp loudest when hungry or disturbed? Well, those tea party organizations screeched and they squawked loudly, and the end result was a massacre of the Democratic Party (and they deserved it for being so weak-kneed). And if you don’t think the marginalization of Black America (and the less fortunate) wasn’t obvious enough, you haven’t seen anything yet. Those who most need a government that is responsive to their pain do not deserve what’s going to transpire next.

Love them, like them, or hate them. Principled stubbornness can be a virtue in politics.

All politics are local. It was considered impossible at one point for the efforts of these loosely organized tea party activists to have a national impact. Conventional wisdom dictated that for the most part the organizations operated in pockets throughout the United States, and with no clear figurehead it just wasn’t plausible. So what happened?

The Tea Party movement quickly morphed into the Republican Party’s bad little stepchild – inconsolable and not easily bought off (not completely). Republican candidates (locally and nationally) soon discovered they had to placate the child wherever they campaigned because of the child’s fervor and relentless squawking for attention. The media’s attention on the extent that tea party activists hindered the Republican Party is not nearly as important as the fact that they became a force to be reckoned with.

All. All politics are local. When a group or community focuses its energies (voices, capital, activity) towards a set of demands (whether ideologically bankrupt or not), attention must be paid. Many of the challenges facing African American communities are indelibly connected enough to organize around. In other words it would only take enough intellectual prowess to identify a couple galvanizing issues to rally people around, and the will to make politicians locally and nationally pay if they choose to disregard the ensuing clamor.

Detroit. There is no reason whatsoever that Jocelyn Benson lost her bid for Secretary of State by such a slim margin. The loss is alarming because it speaks to the extent that Detroit is becoming increasingly impotent politically, and thus easily marginalized by the Michigan Democratic Party establishment. Of course, the flip side of the coin is that given the weakened state of the Democratic Party, coupled with a Republican Party that is ideologically bankrupt, plenty of opportunities exist to quickly turn things around.

All politics are local. The answer to many of the challenges ahead is to make some folks pay attention or pay the price.

World of Mouth

 

Pretend you are dead and you will see who really loves you. ~African Proverb

Jay-Z - Lost One feat. Chrisette Michele

 

I heard motherfuckers saying they made Hov
Made Hov say, "Ok so, make another Hov"
Niggaz wasn't playing they day role
So we parted ways like Ben and J-Lo
I shoulda been did it but I been in a daze though
I put friends over business end of the day though
But when friends, business interests as they go
Ain't nothing left to say though
I guess we forgot what we came fo'

Jay - Z

Not Knocking on Heaven’s Door: Black Atheists, Urban America

Not Knocking on Heaven’s Door:* Black Atheists, Urban America *

via www.afro-netizen.com

This is an interesting article. Though I do not agree with its premise, it does highlight some serious issues with the Black Church of today, as well as the dangers of mobilizing around strictly ethnocentric lines.

JuJuan Buford

What is Commitment?

By JuJuan Buford

 

So what is commitment?

It’s the decision to persevere long after the excitement has dissipated; after the warm fuzzy feelings have evaporated; after the sun sets and the horizon fades. It’s a walk of faith. It’s a decision to continue the journey, when there is a paucity of evidence; an acknowledgement in something greater than yourself; more salient than the limited scope of your eyesight, your fear, and your anxieties.

It’s a decision. In life, business, and love: commitment is what is required to achieve or experience greatness.

Think about it. Did not Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. opine, that he may not live to see the day when people would be judged by the content of their character as opposed to the hue of their skin. At a time when there was little reason to believe that we would ever know a POTUS by the name of Barack Hussein Obama; King committed.

The 16^th POTUS lost 13 elections. Thirteen! He lost a wife, suffered from mental issues, and was a huge failure as a businessman. Abraham Lincoln.

So much has been made of the extent to which forced bondage (slavery) destroyed any semblance of love bondage between African American men and women. Those who believe such nonsense have never read the testimonies of men who under the cover of night sprinted miles and miles after being sold down the river to see their loved ones.

Commitment.

The reason why Brother Malcolm died for us; the glue that holds together marriages that last 40 years plus; why Thomas Edison (he didn’t invent the light bulb) was able to help to create an instrument (the network) that brought us the light bulb; the reason why a basketball player by the name of Jordan, after being cut by his high school team proceeded to become the GOAT.

In its absence, there is confusion, uncertainty, and doubt. You can’t build a business without it. You can’t build a legacy without it. Love is an empty promise without it. Commitment drives one to continue after innumerable setbacks, wrong turns, and mistakes. Its best friends are humility and faith.

It’s the undying love of a parent. It’s the willingness to travel 40 miles on foot just to experience her smile, the feel of her skin, and to know her embrace. It is her willingness to wait. It is the unflinching determination of a human being with a vision to create.

Absent it, any type of relationship to anything is simply a thread bear lie.

It’s a decision to decide. Kinda like a homicide. A suicide. Insecticide. When you commit, other options, alternatives, and ideas other than what you have committed to dies.

 Still wondering what commitment is?   

Quick Hit - Detroit is Now Republican

by JuJuan Buford

 

Detroit is now Republican. Don’t believe me? Well, let’s start with three words.

Mayor Dave Bing.

And if you still need convincing, consider the following. Ask yourself, if Republicans were sitting on the Detroit City Council how would they vote? Seriously! Let, me preface this statement by stating that I’m not arguing that the interests of citizens and business owners are necessarily antithetical. Nevertheless, how many times have members of the Detroit City Council (a majority of them) voted against the interest of the common everyday Detroiter, and in favor of corporate or business interests? I’m just saying.

And for those that would argue different. This is a Quick Hit, but I’ll be sure to innumerate the instances in a future blog.

And the coup de grace.

Let’s face it; a lot of Detroiters literally hang off the lips of their pastors’ and or ministers’ lips, regardless of whether they’re right or wrong (scary). Am I the only one who found it strange that the voice of the Black Church was chillingly silent during the gubernatorial race? How about the fact that more than a few prominent (power to the people) folk of the religious cloth have been sharply critical of President Barack Obama?

It’s not that our POTUS doesn’t deserve criticism. It’s just interesting, eh? Remember when “Proposal E was EEEVIILLLLLL”?

I mean, I heard through the grapevine there were some that actually caught the fever and danced after the election results. I’m just saying.

Republican. Yep. Republican indeed.

_____________________________________________________________

As an aside, you can’t help but feel good about being a Detroiter when the President of the Detroit Public School Board, Mr. Anthony Adams, and Vice President, Mr. Tyrone Winfrey, speak to the progress and future of public education in Detroit. They are shining lights.

And probably the last two Democrats left in Detroit. Ha!

The Detroit Chapter of the NAACP has allegedly been suspended. If this is true, it's truly a sad day for Detroit, and a number of questions need to be asked. Why did the suspension happen? It would be nice if the Detroit Chapter provided some explanation or accounting of itself.

How is the org's leadership going to change and adapt to meet the challenges to its saliency, viability, and relevance in the future.

Seriously, something is worng when the last major initiative most can recall the organization being involved with is the death of the "N" word. Something is more than wrong.

 

JuJuan Buford

Why Detroit Won't (Didn't) Vote

By JuJuan Buford

Here’s the thing. I seriously considered posting this article before the mid term elections; knowing full well what was going to transpire last week. And sadly enough, it was and mostly likely will be applicable for a couple more election cycles to come.

The reasons for Detroit’s citizens’ disinterest in the electoral process are too innumerable to account for and the conditions that gave rise to it deserve more than can be squeezed into one post. However, there are a couple of factors that scream out loud and clear.

Yes, Our Ancestors Died for the Right to Vote. And so what!?  It’s not a compelling reason anymore, because most African Americans refuse to teach our children our history. Most of our children can’t name a single country in Africa, know nothing of the Middle Passage, are totally unfamiliar with the warriors that emerged during our forced bondage, Toussaint L’Ouverture, the Nadir, the initial Civil Rights Movements that occurred during the early 1800s, Ida B. Wells-Burnett, T. Thomas Fortune, David Walker, Patrice Lumumba, Carmichael, Angela Davis, the unfettered story of brother Malcolm X (free of bourgeois bullshit in our community), or the real Rosa Parks.

We don’t teach them. Indeed so many of us have run so far from our history, our communities, and embraced the Matrix so wholeheartedly, that any semblance of a collective consciousness (a necessary tenet of activism) is almost nonexistent. Matter of fact, its almost imbecilic to expect anyone to care what your ancestors died for.

This is the end result.

I’ve always found it rather comical (like cooning comical, not funny comical) when I’d hear those who share my hue poke fun at Pan Africanist – by the way W.E.B. DuBois was a Pan Africanist. He just happens to be the grandfather of what is known as the study of Sociology, one of this country’s greatest scholars, one of the founding fathers of the NAACP, etc., etc., but I digress.

I remember when African Town was introduced as an initiative within the city of Detroit, and the same voices that cry out why won’t citizens vote, opposed it…. vehemently. Then turn around and scream that our ancestors died for it.

What!?.

Look boogie Negroes. Until we embrace all of our brothers and sisters as a whole, begin to advocate vociferously for issues like discriminatory employment practices; address unfair criminal justice policies that disproportionately target and detonate the lives of our youth; teach our history, our narrative, our collective struggle to our children.

Nothing will change. Ancestors what? Ancestors who?

It’s a damn shame when the last time I can recall carrying on a brisk discussion regarding African & African American history and the relevance of black identity on a historical and contemporary level, it was with a Yugoslavian taxi cab driver. Go figure.

We are the only ethnic group (aside from white Americans (not an ethnic group, but rather a racial construct), who have the liberty to do so) that refuse, absolutely refuse to embrace a collective consciousness in such an overtly, destructive manner.

We Have No Leaders. At least not enough of them. We have a few no doubt, but not nearly enough. I remember calling into the radio show, AM1200 with Mildred Gaddis, after listening to Gaddis and company bellow about how bad the conditions were in Detroit. I had had enough, so I called and stated quite plainly, the city lacks leadership. In response she promptly hung up the phone, and retorted “that we have plenty of leaders in the city.”

Really Mrs. Gaddis. Do tell? Where the hell are they? Where are thou hordes of leaders? Where they at? Show them to me. Look at the city.

How is it that the mayor of the city of Detroit, David Bing, was virtually silent during the gubernatorial election? That the city’s community of lawyers remained silent up until the last minute regarding Bob Young? How is it that the same media caricatures keep choosing losers, fakers, folks that won’t stand with the community when it really counts? Where is the media in this state to expose the real leaders walking among us? Where are the religious leaders, stomping the concrete against violence, rape, spiritual, and cultural poverty?

Where they at?

Where’s the voter registration drive at? And when one of us decides to step up, will they be given the support they deserve? See leaders, activists, and historians understand the dynamics that exist here. The folks who don’t have the material means available to change their circumstances will remain skeptical until their bellies get fed a little, and genuine figures engage them.

See Mr. & Mrs. Talented Tenth. The lack of leadership starts right with you. So lead, shut the hell up, or support those who actually care and have an agenda above their own self-aggrandizement.

I can hear the familiar retort now. So what are you doing? Fair enough. But don’t deflect the issue. For those who would call themselves leaders…this is for you. As an aside my resume stands for itself, and many of those who share my perspective are building quietly for good reason.

A Loss of Hope. The bottom line is Detroit’s citizens don’t believe that the electoral process will deliver the goods. After all, Detroiters are Detroiters. We are a gritty, cynical, stubborn bunch.

After years if not decades of watching the city deteriorate and politicians who share our hue prostitute themselves to suburban interests, or just flat out burglarize the city, many have thrown their hands up. In other words, with the exception of a couple active enclaves, Detroit’s will has been broken.

The first step to recovery is admittance.

As an aside, if you are going to catch an L, don’t go out so cheap. If you are going to be a crooked, unscrupulous bastard can you at least sell us out for at least a million or two? It’s embarrassing.

But the beautiful thing about being human is we have the choice to recover. Ever been in a serious car accident. I mean a watching your life pass before you. It’s like slow motion. The adrenaline is pumping, you’re moving with speed, but it’s like the seconds feel minutes. Most of us needed a minute to get comfortable again. You become acutely aware of the loss of control. It takes a minute before you’re really comfortable driving above 55mph again.

You have to ease a boxer that’s been knocked out back into the ring; or a racecar driver that has nearly killed himself back into the saddle.

What we need are some small victories. Low hanging fruit.  The kind of issues that the supermajority of us can agree on. We desperately need a voter registration drive. It will require buy in from the business community; an infusion of talent and money (from elsewhere if necessary); the mobilizaiton of the youth, armed with purpose, and information. Some who have occupied positions of influence (gatekeepers) will need to play their position as consultants rather than stumbling blocks.

A leader without successors is not a leader at all.

The importance of young legs and minds that are still open to the possibilities rather than the distractions of repeated failures cannot be understated. It will require sacrifice. It will take time to build confidence.

However hope can be restored again.

_____________________________________________________________________

As an aside…many of those who continue to blame our POTUS for the bludgeoning the Democrats endured here in Michigan, need to look no further than themselves. Yes, I’m about to say it.

We have the most ridiculously stupid, inept collection of politicians and subordinates in the country. These are the same knuckleheads that snubbed our POTUS on the campaign trail. They turned around and snubbed him on several occasions since then. And quiet as kept, weren’t too keen on inviting him back into town.

Guess who voted for these idiots?

I just can’t help myself. Remember all those African American union members and delegates that were flocking to Billary’s tent during the presidential campaign? What goes around comes around. This is politics. And wow did it come around.

Congratulations Mr. Rick Snyder. I pray that you are the practical, conscietious politician I'm tempted to believe you are.  

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Oh, one more thing. Yes, I dropped the moniker J.S. Buford. Seems someone decided to post some misinformation about my person on the internet. A misquote if you will. Too bad integrity is not a precept for posing as a legitimate source on the internet. And a fellow Cass Technician, Wolverine, and Detroiter at that. Go figure.

What's the deal with all these sad love songs on the radio? Sista blasting them out the stereo, from the car, around the block, to my ear drums. Hey lady, become a new man's locomotive.