Blacksmythe

There are a few issues in the news that I’ve wanted to touch on but haven’t had the time. Still don’t have the time.

So I’ll present a scenario and a question.

You’ve got a neighborhood of black people in a predominantly black city. Two populations–one rents, the other owns. There is a movement underfoot to give the neighborhood a historic site designation. Doing so would raise the property values, but also the rents.

Black people have a vested interest in building wealth. Black people also have a vested interest in affordable housing.

Both populations can claim to speak for “the black community.” The renters can say that the historic designation would hurt black people in as much as they need affordable housing. The owners can say that the historic designation would help black people in as much as they need wealth.

If there is a shared black interest here how is it to be figured out?

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The central meme that will define Vick’s circumstance is a simple one.

He didn’t leave the hood in the hood. People make the same argument about Pacman, and used to make the same argument about AI.

But here’s the thing. While there is a set of geographical markers that distinguish Detroit/Baltimore’s East Side (or Chicago’s South Side, or Saint Louis’ North Side) from its West/North side, even within this place there’s a whole lot of stuff going on. Even within one thin demographic slice you’ve got hustlers, workers, intellectuals, artisans, etc. And even within the straight up criminal class you’ve got people who understand the value of discretion, who know how to separate the wheat from the chaff. People who might not be able to tell you how to allot your 401K, but can tell you within a minute of meeting someone whether that person is trustworthy. Can give you both strategic and tactical advice about how to negotiate a given situation with a minimal use of rhetorical/physical violence.

The question then isn’t why Vick “didn’t let the hood go.” Because the “hood” contains as many different characters and character types as any other place that we might find on a map.

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[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/YENbElb5-xY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

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In 1933, when America was mired deeply in the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office and launched federal policies to revive the economy. Many now remember well his New Deal policies. But, there were some at the time — particularly well-heeled leaders in the American business community — who adamantly opposed the federal government involving itself in the private sector. Based on research in the national archives, the BBC investigation suggests that titans of the industrial and financial world, including Prescott Bush (the grandfather of our sitting president), were linked to, if not directly backing, a plot that would have Maj.-Gen. Smedley Butler, a highly decorated Marine, lead a 500,000 private army and push Roosevelt out of power.

Want to know more? Listen. (Thanks to Open Culture for the link…)

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For a great many of us involved in black student politics on college campuses from Michigan to Howard, we came to our love of wisdom by dealing with the Ancients rather than the early Greeks. And our knowledge of ma’at and related concepts came not reading Cheikh Anta Diop, and listening to speakers like Molefi Asante, Yosef ben-Jochannan, John Henrik Clarke, Maulana Karenga, Ivan Van Sertima and others. Among them was Asa Hilliard. Dr. Hilliard (whose first name is an anglicized version of the Kemetic “Asr” which was then translated into “Osiris”) was part of the first cohort after Diop and was responsible for the awakening of literally thousands of young minds. What we did not get from the universities we received our degrees from, we got from brothers like Dr. Hilliard. And for the few of us who mistakenly believed that joining organizations that had greek-letters made us “Greek”, hearing Bro. Hilliard (who was himself a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity), was like taking in a breath of fresh air.

Dr. Hilliard died on August 12 while in Egypt on a tour, due to complications from malaria.

The world was a better place because of his presence. His absence will be felt.

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