You are the Makers of History!
  • Home
  • More Historic Pictures!
  • Books
  • Hit Us Up
  • Blog
  • Coming Events
  • Videos
  • Donations

Charles Barkley, Bill Cosby, and the Illusion of Analysis

10/29/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
Picture
The white interviewer leaned into Malcolm X during this 1962 interview with an arrogance that suggested he was about to deliver the knockout blow.  "Jackie Robinson has issued a statement condemning you and the Black Muslims as hoodlums who do not speak for the Negro and his condition in this country!"  Malcolm smiled, sat back in his chair, and waited a moment before responding.  "Whenever there is a racial flareup" Malcolm calmly responded "the white man goes on the search for a Negro that he can put on television that will speak out against the Negro in the way that white man wants him to.  He can't wait to get a microphone in front of that type of Negro so he can have him denounce and discredit his people.   So, the white man goes and gets musicians, and ball players as if they are qualified to speak to the conditions of our people because they play ball.  We are the only race where trumpet players are considered experts on what's best for Black people!"

Although this interview was conducted over 50 years ago, recent events easily confirm how Malcolm's astute analysis is just as correct today as it was decades ago.  This week, former basketball player Charles Barkley was asked to comment on why some African folks refer to football quarterback Russell Wilson as "not Black enough."  Barkley, as he has done since the 1980s, immediately launched into a typically a-historical diatribe that most assuredly warmed the hearts of white racists and apologists for the capitalist system everywhere.  Barkley, never shy about expressing his opinions about anything, has become a go-to guy for the aforementioned communities.  Even some African folk can be heard responding with "tell it like it is" when he talks about crabs in a barrel and how African people disrespect education as "too white" while celebrating people who go to prison as "having credibility."  He goes on to criticize African people as being dysfunctional and being the primary reason we are in such terrible shape, even going as far as to tell his white interviewer that he hates to "involve white people in our problems" as if this entire issue has nothing to do with capitalism/white supremacy and is instead entirely our creation and responsibility...Amazing.

This is the same tired formula that is used by others like Bill Cosby.  Take 10% of the truth, highlight that 10%, and ignore the other 90%.  This is a formula that works in present day society where information and truth matters little when placed up against emotional sentiment and political manipulation and expediency.  Let us illustrate how this formula is implemented.  What you do is completely ignore the fact that African people are systematically denied access to opportunities at every conceivable turn in this society, in the areas that we need e.g. education, employment, and quality healthcare, while concurrently having overwhelming over representation in every negative category like police terrorism and incarceration.  Anyone who has even a junior understanding of these issues knows there is an absolute abundance of information available for all to see to substantiate this claim of systematic discrimination.  This is ill-refutable.  So, denying and refusing to talk about that piece of the equation is like explaining where babies come from without talking about sex.  

Sure, some of us glorify prison over college, but why would anyone think this way?  Could it be that some of us have correctly figured out that the U.S. capitalist system doesn't have the interest of our people in mind in anything it does and so there is some disdain for those who are perceived as allying themselves with the system - doing everything it tells them to?  And, there is some admiration for those who rebel against the system, even if that rebellion isn't entirely constructive?  I mean, Dr. Martin Luther King did say that "in an unjust society, the only place for a just man is prison."  Along those lines, there are also some who refer to people who speak what's called "proper English" as "being white," but this occurs because Africanized English - or Ebonics - has been shamefully discredited and disrespected in a barbaric racist attempt to devalue African culture.  Plus, those African people who do not respect so-called "educated English" take that position because after 500+ years, we fail to see where most of these Africans with all this education have used it to fight against the unjust oppression against our people, the reason education was fought for by us in the first place.  We see and hear the "educated" tone and the degrees.  We see the big cars and houses, but we don't see how any of this has advanced our people's collective position, so consequently, the concept of the "educated Negro" is subject to disrespect by our people because we perceive - correctly - that these "educated Africans" sell out to advance themselves individually as house slaves within the capitalist system.  This has nothing to do with us devaluing education.  What's happening here is we know a scam when we see one.  Our people are not stupid.  We understand that the purpose of language is to communicate and so if one person communicates with another person, regardless of the method, and the communication is successful (in terms of the idea being transmitted from the first party to the second) than that's good communication.  The style - which the capitalist system has made the primary concern e.g. the method in which people communicate -  is highlighted above all else, simply to attempt to embarrass African people by forcing us to think that our way of communicating is inferior and the only acceptable way to do this is the way Europeans do it.  This is offensive to our people so a natural result of that is for us to reject how white people communicate.  This explanation would make sense to even a grade school child.  The other aspect of this is if the majority of our people who achieve "higher" education used their personal advancement to do the work of people like Huey P. Newton, George Padmore, Kwame Nkrumah, Assata Shakur, Walter Rodney, Marcus Garvey, Imbalia Camara, Malcolm X, etc., instead of becoming oreo cookies for the European capitalist system, do you think this same phenomenon of people ridiculing education would be taking place?  Clearly the answer to that question is no.

So, nothing against Charles Barkley or Bill Cosby.  In fact, I was a huge fan of Barkley when he came out of Auburn and into the NBA in 1984.  I was a follower of the Philadelphia 76ers at that time because I liked Dr. J, Maurice Cheeks, and Moses Malone.  So, when Charles Barkley was drafted in that great 1984 class and became a dominant inside player at 6 foot 4 I made it my mission to go and see him play in person whenever I could.  By having this focus on him, I also observed quite quickly that his off the court behavior was so immature at times (spitting on children, cursing fans, getting drunk in public) that I honestly don't understand why and how he came to this place that he feels he can serve as some sort of moral voice for African people.  I would say the same for Cosby.  His early film, television, and stand up roles paved the way for African people in comedy, long before the Cosby Show of the 80s, and I grew up watching him in films like "Uptown Saturday Night," but after multiple women have accused him of sexual assault, it's hard to dismiss that totally and it certainly also calls into question his right to be some sort of moral voice to anybody.  Still, even if both of them were saints, the primary point is that their attacks against African people are fueled and supported by a fictional analysis that ignores the truths of oppression in this society.  I know this and there is no question about that.  The part that confuses me is why African people continue to ignore Malcolm's clear analysis from 50+ years ago?  Why when something occurs like Ferguson, Missouri, Ebola, the zionist attacks against Gaza, etc., the first place we turn to get perspective (or at least reaction) isn't the front-line organizations/fighters who have the proper analysis on those situations.  They are the right people to steer us in the proper direction, but we aren't trying to hear them are we?  Instead, our focus remains on what Jay Z, Pharrell, Beyonce, and Charles Barkley are saying?  This is to be expected from our enemies, but we - African and other people dedicated to justice - have to rise up and do better.  We have the responsibility to use our education to expose the backwardness of this system and defend our people where defense is appropriate.  So why don't you start by spreading and sharing this analysis as much as you spread what Kanye West has to say about African people?
1 Comment
knee pads for basketball link
5/18/2016 06:17:29 am

This is a great post. I love this

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    I don't see disagreement as a negative because I understand that Frederick Douglass was correct when he said "there is no progress without struggle."  Our brains are muscles.  Just like any other muscle in our body if we don't stress it and push it, the brain will not improve.  Or, as a bumper sticker I saw once put it, "If you can't change your mind, how do you know it's there?"

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    June 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.