Keepin' It Real

Elwood David Watson

Description

The past decade has been one of the most racially turbulent periods in the modern era, as the complicated breakthrough of the Obama presidency gave way to the racially charged campaigning and eventual governing of Donald Trump. Keepin' It Real presents a wide-ranging group of essays that take on key aspects of the current landscape surrounding racial issues in America, including the place of the Obamas, the rise of the alt-right and White nationalism, Donald Trump, Colin Kaepernick and the backlash against his protests, Black Lives Matter, sexual politics in the black community and much more. 

America's racial problems aren't going away any time soon. Keepin' It Real serves as a marker of the arguments raging right now, and an argument for the changes that need to be made to become the better nation it has long imagined itself to be.  

PART I – THE POLITICS OF WHITELASH

1. When Racism Hits Close to Home: On Your Campus

2. The 2016 Olympics: The Trilogy of Hypocrisy, Racism, and White Privilege

3. Dylann Storm Roof: The Deranged, Dark Face of White Nationalism

4. Conservatives Still Scapegoating Barack Obama

5. Colin Kaepernick: The Undeniable Reality of American Racial Hypocrisy

6. Birtherism = Bullshit

7. Michelle Obama: Playa Hatin' on the Former First Lady

8. Denial of Supreme Court Seat: One of a Long Line of Racial Slights toward Predsident Obama

9. The Intersection of Racial, Gender, and Economic Politics

10. The Alt-Right and the Repulsive Spirit of White Supremacy

PART II – STAYING WOKE!

11. Authentically Black: The Debate Lives On

12. Mental Illness: Yes – It Is a Black Thing!

13. Black Lives Matter Too

14. Black History Month: Beyond One Month

15. Message to Starbucks: Tackling Racism Will Require More than a Few Hours of Racial Bias Training

16. We Must Focus More on Substantial Issues as Opposed to Fleeting Symbolism

17. An Open Letter to Some on the Conservative Right: Slavery Was Totally F*cked Up, Period

18. Self-Hatred in the Black Community

19. Rachel Dolezal: The Potential Perversity of White Privilege

20. The Black Community and the Complex Politics of Homophobia

21. Michael Dyson and Cornel West: Much Ado about Ego

22. 1-800-Blame-A-Black-Man

23. Does Black America Deserve Reparations? Yes, Period

PART III – PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK BODIES

24. Violence against and Demonisation of Black Women is Often Overlooked

25. Emmett Till: Will Justice Ever Be Served?

26. Stephon Clark, Antwon Rose, Alton Sterling, Philando Castille: The Devaluation of Black Bodies

27. John Lewis: An American Icon

28. People of Color: Continually Demeaned, Devalued, and Dehumanized

29. Pepsi Fiasco Demonstrated the Crucial Need for Greater Diversity in Corporate America

PART IV – SOULFUL REFLECTIONS ON ENTERTAINMENT, ICONS, AND CELEBRITY

30. O.J. Simpson: Still Captivating and Polarizing the Nation

31. Muhammad Ali: Bold, Daring, Authentic, Problematic, and Kept It 100 Percent Real

32. Bill Cosby: America's Dad Hoodwinked Us

33. Prince: Bold, Daring, Black, and Unapologetically Controversial

34. Jemele Hill Spoke Truth to Power

35. Donald Trump and the NFL: The Politics of White Fragility and White Supremacy

36. Bill Maher, and the Nigger-Word Debate

37. Roseanne Barr and the Politics of Right-Wing Hypocrisy 

38. Aretha Franklin: Feminist, Activist, Phenomenal Woman

39. Omarosa, Donald Trump, and Unalloyed Racial Bullhorns

40. Why Is the Conservative Right So Obsessed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?

41. R. Kelly and the Ongoing Disregard, Devaluation, Denigration and Degradation of Black Women

Sujets

• Social Science
• HISTORY
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Obama
• Sociology
• Sexual Politics
• Trump
• Homophobia
• Dehumanization
• General officer
• Prejudice
• South
• Gender
• Politics of the United States
• Sexism
• Anthropology
• Central
• General
• Cultural Studies
• Bill Maher
• Barack Obama
• National Football League
• Race
• Guimbarde (instrument)

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789380514
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in the UK in 2019 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2019 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2019 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copy-editing: MPS Technology
Cover and Layout Design: Aleksandra Szumlas
Typesetting: Contentra
Production Manager: Tim Mitchell
Print ISBN: 978-1-78938-050-7
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78938-052-1
ePUB ISBN: 978-1-78938-051-4
Printed & bound by Severn Printers, Gloucester, UK.
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This is a peer-reviewed publication.

Contents
Introduction
PART I — THE POLITICS OF WHITELASH
1. When Racism Hits Close to Home: On Your Campus
2. The 2016 Olympics: The Trilogy of Hypocrisy, Racism, and White Privilege
3. Dylann Storm Roof: The Deranged, Dark Face of White Nationalism
4. Conservatives Still Scapegoating Barack Obama
5. Colin Kaepernick: The Undeniable Reality of American Racial Hypocrisy
6. Birtherism = Bullshit
7. Michelle Obama: Playa Hatin’ on the Former First Lady
8. Denial of Supreme Court Seat: One of a Long Line of Racial Slights toward President Obama
9. The Intersection of Racial, Gender, and Economic Politics
10. The Alt-Right and the Repulsive Spirit of White Supremacy
PART II — STAYING WOKE!
11. Authentically Black: The Debate Lives On
12. Mental Illness: Yes—It Is a Black Thing!
13. Black Lives Matter Too
14. Black History Month: Beyond One Month
15. Message to Starbucks: Tackling Racism Will Require More than a Few Hours of Racial Bias Training
16. We Must Focus More on Substantial Issues as Opposed to Fleeting Symbolism
17. An Open Letter to Some on the Conservative Right: Slavery Was Totally F*cked Up. Period
18. Self-Hatred in the Black Community
19. Rachel Dolezal: The Potential Perversity of White Privilege
20. The Black Community and the Complex Politics of Homophobia
21. Michael Dyson and Cornel West: Much Ado about Ego
22. 1-800-Blame-A-Black-Man
23. Does Black America Deserve Reparations? Yes. Period
PART III — PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK BODIES
24. Violence against and Demonization of Black Women Is Often Overlooked
25. Emmett Till: Will Justice Ever Be Served?
26. Stephon Clark, Antwon Rose, Alton Sterling, Philando Castille: The Devaluation of Black Bodies
27. John Lewis: An American Icon
28. People of Color: Continually Demeaned, Devalued, and Dehumanized
29. Pepsi Fiasco Demonstrated the Crucial Need for Greater Diversity in Corporate America
PART IV — SOULFUL REFLECTIONS ON ENTERTAINMENT, ICONS, AND CELEBRITY
30. O.J. Simpson: Still Captivating and Polarizing the Nation
31. Muhammad Ali: Bold, Daring, Authentic, Problematic, and Kept It 100 Percent Real
32. Bill Cosby: America’s Dad Hoodwinked Us
33. Prince: Bold, Daring, Black, and Unapologetically Controversial
34. Jemele Hill Spoke Truth to Power
35. Donald Trump and the NFL: The Politics of White Fragility and White Supremacy
36. Bill Maher, and the Nigger-Word Debate
37. Roseanne Barr and the Politics of Right-Wing Hypocrisy
38. Aretha Franklin: Feminist, Activist, Phenomenal Woman
39. Omarosa, Donald Trump, and Unalloyed Racial Bullhorns
40. Why Is the Conservative Right So Obsessed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?
41. R. Kelly and the Ongoing Disregard, Devaluation, Denigration and Degradation of Black Women
Afterword
Index
Introduction
It has been more than half a century since the late mid-twentieth-century Black intellectual renaissance author, and cultural critic, James Baldwin, wrote his classic, The Fire Next Time (Baldwin, 1963). Baldwin’s work was riveting for its time. His spellbinding narrative examined the disturbing and vehement misunderstanding between Blacks (then Negroes) and Whites in regards to racial injustice of the era. His book became a catalyst for many progressive Americans of all racial groups, in that it prompted them into action and provided a passionate and eloquent voice for the modern civil rights movement. The book became a national bestseller and further catapulted him into the premier sphere of the American intellectual elite of all races. Today, as we move further into the twenty-first century, his prophetic message rings all too chillingly true.
It is a disappointing reality that many of the indignities (racial and otherwise), as well as differences in perceptions regarding the history and treatment of Black Americans ominously discussed during the 1960s, still apply today. This stark divide was evidenced in a poll conducted by CBS News in July 2015 that indicated 62 percent of all Americans (for Blacks the percentage was 68) believed that tensions in race relations were the highest they had been in twenty years (Sack & Thee-Brenan, 2015). Another poll taken in March of the same year by the Pew Research Center revealed similar attitudes (Pew Research Center, 2015). More telling was a poll taken by the same organization in August 2017, according to which, a sizable number of Americans across races indicated that they saw race relations to be fair at best and many interviewed saw them as poor. For Blacks, the percentage was 81 percent. For Whites, the number was 52 percent (Pew Research Center, 2017). It should come as little surprise that a disproportionate number of Black Americans have always been inclined to harbor more skeptical views on racial progress. History has given people of African descent good reason to embrace such cautionary views.
The circumstances of the past few years have certainly given any racially progressive person cause for pause: the attack on voting rights by many Southern states (Berman, 2015); the sinister targeting of many low-income and working-class Black home buyers by predatory lenders in the housing and financial industry (Loftin, 2010); the shocking initial indifference by many federal agencies, as well as the Bush administration, to the devastating impact that Hurricane Katrina had on its Black population in New Orleans in 2005 (Lavelle, 2006). We saw hope and despair on the faces of thousands of impoverished Black people of the city: men, women, children, and the elderly, which deeply demonstrated the racial and economic disenfranchisement rampant in the city. We have been witness to the horrendous treatment and disproportionate sentencing of Black people (especially Black men) in the criminal justice system (Alexander, 2010); the intense level of systematic and structural racism in our culture, as applicants with Black sounding names more likely to be discriminated against by potential employers than those with more “traditional” White-identified names (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2003); massive defiance among many White radicals who vehemently and defiantly support the Confederate flag (Agiesta, 2015). White supremacists brazenly marched through Charlottesville and other American cities, feeling emboldened by the victory of Donald Trump and his racially divisive rhetoric in the 2016 election. The dilemma facing Black college graduates is that they are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as their White cohorts. Blacks, and in some cases, other non-White people, are profiled and harassed in various public and private venues. These are just a few examples of the current fractured racial climate (Jones & Schmitt, 2014).
The callous and disrespectful treatment of former President, Barack Obama, by his detractors was another major example of the current poisoned atmosphere (Capehart, 2015). Many Black Americans took Obama’s mistreatment personally. They observed this blatant mistreatment of the president as a personal attack on themselves and the Black population in general (Facebook, 2015). The gullible assumption that America had become a post-racial society (if there can ever be such a thing as “post-racial”) upon the election of President Obama was a radically misguided illusion.
As a Black college academic, I have had the privilege to converse over the past few years with fellow educated Black and non-Black professionals, some friends and others acquaintances. I have also investigated further, interacting through social media. I can personally attest that there currently exists an unmistakable level of paranoia, anger, in some cases fear, and most certainly resentment, to the current volatile situation that has gripped the nation. The temperature is hot and the climate has become dangerously unpredictable.
Prophetic Messages and Folk Heroes
Over a century ago, Black intellectual extraordinaire of his day, W. E. B. DuBois, stated that the problem of the twentieth century would be the problem of the color line (DuBois, 1903). This conclusion was shared, some forty years later (in 1944) by the renowned Swedish sociologist, Gunnar Myrdal, in An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (Myrdal, 1944). Both were on target. Indeed, such a prophetic message is very relevant today in the twenty-first century. If the past several years have taught us anything, it is that the United States as a nation is in a perpetual state of crisis when it comes to the racial situation plaguing our nation. To put it bluntly, the past few years have left a brutal, brash, ugly stain of racism, sexism, homophobia, classism and xenophobia on America and other parts of the world touched by US society.
To be sure, our nation has seen worse times, given our often tumultuous history. Nonethele