Author: Jackeb-Eligah Milan

For the first time in American history we potentially may have an African-American speaker of the House. In 230 years total, there haven’t been any that have even come close in the runnings for the position. Current speaker, also known as a minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, said that she will run again, but many lawmakers and Democratic candidates want someone new in after 16 years. The most likely to succeed Nancy Pelosi consist of five candidates: Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina (currently the No. 3 House Democrat); Hakeem Jeffries of New York; Cedric Richmond of Louisiana (current chairman of the CBC); Elijah Cummings of Maryland; and Marcia Fudge of Ohio.

Marcia Fudge said that she believes that is it more than likely that the speaker of the House will be black, saying that “it’s a probability” rather than a possibility. She strongly backs Jim Clyburn for the position. Any of these candidates would mark as an important milestone in history, as no African-American has held a position higher than majority whip (No. 3 position) within the House. Giving a black lawmaker the top job of the House, would also be an important milestone in that it would put an African-American democrat in line to presidency succession with only the vice president in between.

This accomplishment would also give benefits to Democrats in that having a Democratic speaker of the House during current times, would give the speaker a position to take on President Donald Trump. Trump, has openly stoked racial divides within the country.

In Minnesota, for the first time, a police officer was convicted of murder from an on-duty killing. The jury found Mohamed Noor, a Somali and Muslim police officer, guilty of the murder of Justine Ruszczyk, a white woman. This is controversial in that police officers tend to get away with murder, causing the national debate around policing and race. In Minnesota more specifically, local activists fought for a change due to the high amount of police officers not being held accountable for the murder of black civilians. This raised controversy within the community, many believed that yes, Officer Noor should be held accountable for the murder he committed, which he was. While on the other hand, many wonder if he would have been convicted of this if the race between officer and victim were swapped.

Civil Rights lawyer and activist, Nekima Levy Armstrong said, “The system treats African-Americans and white people differently, whether they are the victim in a police-involved shooting case or whether they are the police officer. This is absolutely outrageous.” This case was different than the cases where white officers murder black civilians in that, the system was quick to sympathize and embrace Ms. Ruszczyk, while Officer Noor seemed to not receive the same vocal support of the policing force as other officers did in the other police-relating shootings. Legal action against fatal police shootings is extraordinarily rare, with only 101 non federal officers being charged with murder/manslaughter since 2005.

With the trial of Noor, he and his partner were responding to a call made by Ms. Ruszczyk herself. Her call was made late at night to report what sounded like a woman in distress in an alley behind her home. During the trial, Noor testified that upon arrival to the scene, as they were investigating from within their squad car Noor said that he heard a bang and fired one shot from the passenger seat of the squad car as Ms. Ruszczyk approached the driver’s side of the squad car. His explanation didn’t convince the jury, which is interesting considering how much less of an explanation other officers have used while still getting off free. A member of the jury had addressed the racial issue with, “What Justine has received, we want for everyone. If Justine is the only one to be treated this way, this is not justice, but another racist wound inflicted on our community.”

Lastly, one thing about this case that really interests me is something that the prosecutors had said to Noor during the trial. Amy Sweasy, an assistant county attorney had addressed Noor, “Her whole blonde hair, pink T-shirt and all, was a threat to you?” What is she trying to imply? What should a threat or a criminal look like? Can someone who is a threat not have blonde hair and wear pink T-shirts?

    I first learned of the “Igbo Landing Legend” from my class, ‘Jazz & African American Literature’. I had found it interesting and very moving. The legend takes place in 1803, and is referred to by some as the first “freedom march” in America.

    It begins in May 1803, when a ship full of captured West Africans (Igbo people from what is now Nigeria) lands in Georgia, where they are shortly sold later. After being sold in Savannah, the 75 Igbo people were chained and loaded onto a small ship on its way to plantations in St. Simons Island. During the sail to the island, the enslaved Igbo rose up, rebelled, and overtook the ship, drowning their captors.

    After overtaking the ship, it had crashed into land. The Igbo aboard had not wanted to become slaves, causing all 75 of them to commit mass suicide (theorized to be a command from a high Igbo chief). The mass suicide was committed by drowning, they walked into the Dunbar Creek. Many believe that the Igbo sung a tune local to them about, their “water spirit”, saying that the water spirit will take them home. Through this, they knowingly accepted death rather than the horrors of being captured and enslaved in America.

    Within the years 2015 and 2016 in the United States, violence against blacks as well as racial injustices reached a peak. With many unjustified police shootings (black males aged 15-34 were nine times more likely to be murdered by police than any other group) and officers (most of the time) not being held accountable, racial tensions were, and still are, very high.

    There isn’t much we can do to combat this. There were and are still many protests due to these racial injustices with only few gaining justice or causing actual change. Many artists also attempted to combat against this, by speaking their opinions on the matter and attending events like protests to voice their support. Kendrick Lamar performed at the Grammys in 2016 and 2018. These performances were used as a voicing of the need for change, and as a device for empowerment of a race that has been held down by oppression for a long while.

    The 2016 performance begins with “The Blacker The Berry” and Kendrick coming out as part of a chain gang, with his accompanying instrumentalists being locked within cells. The intensity builds as the chain gang rips off their chains, leading to the performance of  “Alright”. Both of these performances include aspects of African culture. This performance showcases some of what it means to be black in America, the black experience.

    The 2018 performance begins with “XXX.”, a song that in itself tagrets political, social, and racial injustices. The first movement of this performance includes the song “DNA.” as well. There is a short intermission by Dave Chappelle where he says, “The only thing more frightening than watching a black man be honest in America, is being an honest black man in America.” The intermissions in this performance are started with a gun shot sound effect directed at Kendrick, and Dave Chappelle continues with more short phrases to move the performance onward. The performance ends with all of the onstage performers being ‘shot down’ one by one, reflecting current issues in the U.S. Kendrick is an example of an influential black role model in America who is bringing light to issues in ways that are empowering to fellow black Americans as well as youth.

 

Links to the performances:

https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/15/11004624/grammys-2016-watch-kendrick-lamar-perform-alright-the-blacker-the-berry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeFwtA3p4Mw

Django Unchained is a film that was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and released in 2012. It has been a part of conversations of controversy for how it portrays certain aspects of the time era that it is set in (late 1850’s/early 60’s). One of these controversies was of the portrayal of African Americans and slavery. While another prominent controversy pertained to historical inaccuracy.

The main controversy of the film is how frequently the “N-word” is used in the film. Some find the usage ‘inappropriate’, as they believe it is used far too much. Spike Lee is one of these people, noting that “it’s disrespectful to [his] ancestors”. On the other hand, there are others who defended that the usage of the word stays true to that time period’s norms when addressing slaves and African Americans. Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson were among those who held this point of view. Quentin Tarantino has come under fire before for his usage of the word in films prior to this, with a lot of flak coming from the fact that he’s a white director, so he can’t necessarily speak on “the black experience”.

Another area of controversy was a moving scene that involved a brutal fight, referred to as a ‘mandingo fight’. This fight involved two slaves fighting to the death. A historian, Edna Greene Medford, noted that there were never documented accounts of this actually happening, only rumors that these fights had actually occurred. Another historian had noted that fights like these wouldn’t be too far out of character for slave masters. While also noting that this would be unlikely, solely due to their personal finances. They wouldn’t bet against themselves (their money) by pitting their slaves against each other.

Despite all the controversy, there were still accepting outlooks on certain aspects of the film. The main aspect is the physical reality of the treatment/punishment of slaves within the film. Despite the brutal fight, there were other scenes of violence portrayed in the film that reflected what has been proven to have actually happened. These scenes of violence contained slaves being whipped, slaves being put into “hot boxes”, and dogs being released onto a slave as punishment for attempting to escape. These scenes are very emotional and moving, as well as unsettling. Especially because when these scenes occur, they are a reminder that these are events that have actually happened. They weigh in on the reality of how truly brutal slavery was.