Does Blackness Require a Litmus Test?

blackness (blak-ness) - 1. referring to how black an individual is by measuring his or her behavior to how well they fit the stereotype. Can also be referred to the respect but not posing of one fitting the black stereotype. 2. a socioeconomic identity pertaining to only black Americans. 

In light of the events arising from the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks' locker room and the comments retired NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley made about blackness - or the lack thereof - I wonder if there is a litmus test to be sufficiently black. This has been a fixture recently in large part of the 2008 election and subsequent 2012 re-election of President Barack Obama.

Does blackness require a litmus test? I'm pretty certain I've failed most of them, but Johnny Law & politicians see me as something else.
— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) October 28, 2014

What exactly is blackness constituted of? Being able to play basketball and recite rap lyrics exceedingly well? The number of women that a man has sex with? Is it the style of dress? What about the cars we drive - or aspire to own? Our grasp of the English language - specifically, having the ability to make complete sentences and extended conversations without the crutches of "uh, you know what I'm saying", or the use of swear words to convey a point? Perhaps blackness can extend to the foods we eat and/or the people we associate ourselves with? Or even the jobs we perform, for those of us who are gainfully employed? To find ourselves in a narrow box not only limits our world to what we are acutely familiar, but it also red lines us to being overrepresented in the things that do matter to all of us such as the crime blotter. 

The question of blackness has been around since our ancestors were forcibly brought to America as slave labor to toil in a strange land rife with abuse and unfavorable conditions both man-made and natural. For example, a principal slave route was from west Africa in present-day Liberia to New York City and New Haven! How much of our original culture have we been able to retain if it has been both a portal and a conduit for the ruling class and even other minority groups to wreak havoc and contempt toward our very existence and humanity. What was initially established as a coping mechanism since we lost almost everything else save religion (see Answers to the Questions Religion Didn't Answer) to survive the insanity of our oppression has become an idiocy of its own by the ignorant in speech and conduct. We have employed and taken full advantage of the very concept of blackness regarding employment, education,and a myriad of opportunities that were lost to us due to our heritage; on the flip side, it has been used as a trump card when someone is viewed insufficiently black. You know the nicknames: house Negro, sellout, Oreo, Uncle Tom, OJ.

Where Charles Barkley gets it wrong about blackness having a litmus test is the fact that as a former professional basketball player, he spent seventeen years in front of the media speaking his mind and has the bank account to insulate himself from the struggles of the rest of us. I do agree with him in the sense (grudgingly) about the crabs in a barrel mentality; ideally, we all should applaud each other for being successful in our arenas of life but it does not always happen. Intelligent black males - we're more than simply well-spoken - are often targeted by the so-called blackness police. Trust me, I've been harassed regularly by that outfit for years. Being smaller and smarter than most of my contemporaries in addition to generally nerdy before it was cool, I was the picture of "trying to be white" when it was a case of wanting to be accepted. Obviously, their definition of blackness was way different from mine - and it still is. 

We're the only people who are rewarded more with street cred for going to jail or sleeping with multiple women. For doing the right thing by getting a quality education, going to work every day ON TIME, and thinking ahead toward the future, we're labeled as squares. Well, cool with me. 

How the hell does that happen?

Could it be the subliminal messages we are reared with, to give back and reach out to those who helped us get to where we are? Example:  When I get paid, I'm gonna buy my momma a new house. It's easy for athletes to do so when they turn pro and make a fistful of dollars in their early to mid-twenties, but what about those of us who stayed in school four, five or six years to earn degrees? I don't know who Bobby Shmurda is? Fine, I'm almost 36. I let that party scene go years ago. Those who have to settle for Mitsubishis instead of getting new Bimmers to show the fruits of our labor? Being asked if (or what) fraternity I would pledge in college, as if that should matter more than getting my degree. By the way, I did join Alpha Phi Omega. I was told by more than one person I was again "too white" for the Divine Nine. What about the one that I grew up hearing - and I'm sure every brother heard it at one point or another:  If she can't use your comb, she can't come home with you. Yeah, I dated white women in the past and probably ninety percent of my friends are white - classmates, buddies, co-workers - but does it mean I am any less black? Life would be difficult if I were limited to a microcosm of what is perceived versus who I really am. 

Just for giggles, I'll add a few litmus questions to determine authenticity:

• Do you know what worldstarhiphop.com is?
• Upon getting paid, your check goes to a) the bank in a savings account; b) court fines for that battle royal from the other Saturday night at the club; c) f**k that, I'm getting the new J's; or d) heading to the rim shop to stunt 22" wheels for the weekend?
• Do you sag?
• How many baby mamas do you have? How is the relationship with them, if multiple?
• Is anything not rap, R & B, gospel, or the blues considered "white music"?
• Do you own multiple flat-billed baseball caps and matching t-shirts for each?
• Does your V8 Chevrolet have $2 worth of gas on a regular basis?
• Have you ever bought or sold food stamps?
• What is more attractive in a woman, a big brain or a big butt? Don't deny it.
• What do you call the guy at work who gets to wear regular business clothes instead of a company-issued uniform?
• When your child needs discipline, is it with anything you can reach (i.e. belts, switches, the Bible) or a few minutes in timeout?
• Matter of fact, what are you views on timeout?
• Do you turn up on the 4th of July and do nothing for Juneteenth?
• Is basketball - or football - the scope of your outdoor activities?
• Does the word "motherf*cker" enter regular conversation? Is it used as a noun, verb, and an adjective?
• Do your rims, paint job, or stereo system in any combination cost more than the actual car?
• Is school for nerds? What is the purpose of education beyond the fashion show the first week?
• Do you know what CME holidays are in the church?
• Have you done unsavory deeds to make sure a bill was paid before its shut-off date?
• How many tattoos do you have?
• What colors do your wave caps come in other than the customary black?
• If someone outside of the group uses the N-word, what is your reaction? 

If you're offended by any of those, I'm not sorry. I feel the same way when you question my blackness when I am more than willing to share my knowledge and idiosyncrasies about myself as well as deviate from the stereotypical thugs and assorted idiots who have made a mockery of what it is to be black. 14.5 million people do not all behave in monolithic lockstep, so why do we expect us to? I don't think we require a litmus test solely because our individual experiences are part of a larger collective tapestry. I do believe Russell Wilson and Charles Barkley are their own brands of black, just as the rest of us - and even those who are perceived as fake, like Supreme Court judge Clarence Thomas and our lost brethren like rapper Yung Thug. 

Who in the hell approved you to be the blackness police, anyway?

Black People After Work

Truth? I know it holds some weight for me. pic.twitter.com/80WfIaaNIL
— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) April 13, 2014

Wait til I clock out...

Saline County Election Ballot

A pair of important things for Saline County residents to know. These two links are the election ballot and the hours at the polling places countywide.

 Saline County's Election Ballot for 2014


Where To Go Vote In Saline County

The Hottest Rap Bars Of 2014

If you haven't heard how David Banner killed the Hip-Hop Awards Tuesday night, check this link out and tell me what you think.

2014 BET Cypher

Enjoy!

Swagger Jackin'

(swagger jacker) – a person who steals someone else’s flow, lines, jokes, style, actions, swagger, etc.

Taken from Urban Dictionary

For as long as I can remember, black culture has been hijacked at every corner and sold to the highest bidder at the expense of dignity, self-respect, and integrity. Ours is an experience akin to the cartoonist Aaron McGruder of Boondocks and Black Jesus fame as “pilgrims in an unholy land” in the manner anything uniquely African-American ends up capitulated – and worse, mocked by the mainstream. Swagger jacking – the practice of some people who take others’ style, flow, swagger, actions, and speech – is another way of calling it gentrification, a loss of cultural signifiers. In this case, I’m choosing to focus on the jackers themselves and their (recent) mesmerism with our culture prior to its eventual ostracism. If that is too many $5 words for you, here is the translation:  That was wack before it became cool, and now it’s lame again.

I feel like something is missing every time I come home. I understand that Conway is changing, and to many of us, not really for the better. I’m certain the Markham Street redevelopment project could have been accomplished without uprooting whole neighborhoods, buying out longtime residents – or waiting for their deaths, as I witnessed with my grandparents – as it presents newer challenges:  Where do they go? At what cost? I’m looking beyond the financial impact. Along with the St. James CME Church that was moved two blocks next to what was my grandparents’ home of nearly fifty years to accommodate the nearby private college and its expansion plans for parking, green space, and more buildings, local businesses are struggling to keep their doors open. If I see that Doc’s Barber Shop is converted to a boutique years after Roger Nelson plied his trade palming ninety percent of black Conway male heads all those years, I will scream!

Dammit, it’s home. I know the house rules of capitalism – if you have less money than someone who wants to live/work/play where you are, then you lose. Swagger jacking is more about culture than geography, about attitude and art, about a certain ownership pride instead of comparative wealth, and that makes it both more deliberate and more insidious. In other words, winning at ‘big bank takes little bank’ only means your money has no regard for roots long established. Using community hallmarks as business names for places overpriced to the displaced is beyond disrespectful.

Another citation of swagger jacking is our music, rhythms, and style. Until Eminem rocked a du-rag, the mainstream considered the public wearing of wave caps ghetto and mocked our Afro picks. You know, the real ones with the black power fist, peace sign, and metal bristles. While I haven’t seen white kids utilizing picks, the fact Questlove keeps one seems to be a signifier that they are acceptable; twenty years ago that was not the case. On the contrary, where are the white rappers who have made millions from our struggles when all of this domestic terrorism is happening to our young brothers and sisters like Renisha, Oscar, Trayvon, Jordan, and Mike? I’m looking squarely at Slim Shady, Paul Wall, Miley Cyrus, Iggy Azalea, Justin Timberlake, Vanilla Ice, etc. Perhaps Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines are a lot more solidly rigid than any of us anticipated. An indictment of our temperament is their seemingly “earning a ghetto pass” simply because we enjoy their entertainment value, leading thousands of teens and young adults to think the same way regarding African-American culture.

America was literally built on the backs of black folks. The way our swagger has been Deeboed is nothing short of criminal – if you don’t believe me, visit a car lot and tell me 22s on a Cadillac do not catch your eye. Explain why your sons sag their jeans and daughters are twerking on YouTube, and both own multiple pairs of Air Jordan sneakers. If these swagger jackers really want something, feel the sweat beading up on my forehead every time the police drive behind me or the stares my wife and I have received upon entering certain restaurants. You don’t understand the gravitas of the struggle – it’s a phase, a play thing, a hash tag. Stop. 

Seeing Upside Down

In light of the Ebola outbreak and subsequent fear-mongering across the United States, a Dallas-area pastor has been noted for his continual prayers for those stricken with the fatal disease. Father Jim Khoi, Nina Pham's pastor, has communicated with her mother and is asking for prayers via Skype. Her condition is steadily improving as a result of not only a transfusion of plasma from a Texas physician who has survived the disease but also through the power of prayer. Many mission-based churches specialize in visiting homes for AIDS and Ebola patients still exist in addition to the state and federal prison ministries. Among the downtrodden, the wretched - the rejected of this world - God's kingdom takes root most firmly.

Taking God's assignment for our lives means we must look at the world upside down, as Jesus did. While it is easier - and often, naturally more gratifying - to seek out those who can do us favors with their abundance of resources, we should open our eyes to find those who are lacking what we have. Instead of the strong, we look for the weak; instead of the healthy, the sick. Rather than associating ourselves solely with the spiritual, visit the sinful. Is this not how God reconciles the world to Himself? In Matthew 9:12, Jesus heard them and answered, "Healthy people don't need a doctor, but sick people do."

To hammer home the point, today's Ebola patients are the lepers from Jesus's era. These lepers were quarantined to isolation to prevent widespread infection of the disease among the population, and as a result were ostracized. Yet Jesus found the time to associate Himself with the lepers, signifying they were truly no lesser than those with clear skin. Imagine the Jews' reaction once they were healed! That could be likened to the American Christian's response after the early cases were vaccinated.

See the world upside down, as Jesus did. Don't waste your time with the 20% when the 80% have a greater need of you.

Timely Words

You may have heard the adage “Timing is everything.” According to the Bible, good timing applies to our words and speech too. Think of a time when God used you to bring a timely word to refresh someone or when you wanted to speak, but it was wiser to remain silent. On the contrary, I am guilty of sending unfiltered tweets, some of which have quickly returned to bite me on the behind forcing to defend or in some cases, recant the offending statement.

The Bible says that there is an appropriate times to speak (Ecclesiastes 3:7). Solomon compared properly time and well-spoken words with golden apples in silver setting – beautiful, valuable, and carefully crafted (Proverbs 25:11-12). Knowing the right time to speak is beneficial for both the speaker and hearer, whether they are words of love, encouragement, or rebuke. Your tone of voice can be the difference between being a blessing and a hindrance to someone! More importantly, keeping silent can also have its advantages. When we’re tempted to roast someone or make derisive comments about an idea, Solomon reminds us that it is better to hold our tongues, recognizing the times for silence. When chattiness or anger tempts us to sin against God or another human being, resistance comes by being slow to speak (James 1:19).

It is often hard to know what to say and when to say it. The Spirit will help us to be discerning. He will use the right words at the right time, tone, and manner for the good of others and for His honor.

Timely words are works of art.

Who Is Our Side?

Taken from 2 Kings 9:30-37

Jehu headed toward Jezreel, and when Jezebel heard he was coming, she put on eye shadow and brushed her hair. Then she stood at the window, waiting for him to arrive. As he walked through the city gate, she shouted down to him, “Why did you come here, you murderer? To kill the king? You're no better than Zimri!”  He looked up toward the window and asked, “Is anyone up there on my side?” A few palace workers stuck their heads out of a window, and Jehu shouted, “Throw her out the window!” They threw her down, and her blood splattered on the walls and on the horses that trampled her body.  Jehu left to get something to eat and drink. Then he told some workers, “Even though she was evil, she was a king's daughter, so make sure she has a proper burial.”  But when they went out to bury her body, they found only her skull, her hands, and her feet.  They reported this to Jehu, and he said, “The Lord told Elijah the prophet that Jezebel's body would be eaten by dogs right here in Jezreel. And he warned that her bones would be spread all over the ground like manure, so that no one could tell who it was.”

God keeps his promises; when he says it, that settles it. Like a protective parent, I'll deal with them when they're wrong, but let it come from my hands. Accept God at his work EVEN when you don't see the background work.

Ex. Faith is like cooking fried chicken. I don't see it yet, but I can smell it and hear the grease popping in the skillet.

Don't let your situation cause you to move from your blessings! When you're spiritual,  you learn how to pray for your oppressors versus throwing hands.

Jehu had a mission to clean up the mess left behind by Jezebel, who dumped God for her own secular agenda. He came back to Jezreel to work (God always has a ram in the bush). She dressed up and brushed her hair to mock him; after she fell to her death, the dogs devoured her body save the skull, hands, and feet.

The Jezebel spirit is a selfish one that supports fear. Learn to walk away from wrongdoing!