DistortedSoul.com – The FUNK According to Nadir Omowale

‘Blues Talkin' - Nadir's Blog’

Note from Nadir: This is a personal statement in response to WDIV’s misguided report on the US Social Forum. It is not an official USSF statement.

My name is J. Nadir Omowale, and I am a member of Detroit’s Entertainment Commission. I am a musician, Detroit advocate, and a volunteer for the US Social Forum.

I LIVE HERE!!! I’M A CITY OFFICIAL!!! I AM NOT PROTESTING DETROIT!! I LOVE DETROIT!!!

I am appalled at WDIV’s incorrect, misguided and dangerous portrayal of the United States Social Forum and its attendees as “protesters”.

The US Social Forum is a gathering of community organizers, and social justice activists. We are meeting in Detroit to teach and learn from each other.

Yes, Detroit was chosen partially because of the many challenges that the city faces, but it was also chosen for the great progress we have made as we work to improve the economic and social climate here. Read the rest of this entry »

For better or worse, one thing is certain: Barack Obama’s presidency forces Americans to face our own thinly camouflaged racial tensions.

Once a taboo subject, race has become a common topic in our public and private discourse. Whether it’s conservative pols using YouTube video to stoke the embers of racial division, my longtime friend and foil, libertarian commentator Paul Hue, challenging racial assumptions and stereotypes on his Facebook page, or the always insightful and provocative, anti-racism activist Tim Wise, debating with Roland Martin, Julia Reed and Don Lemon on CNN, race is now front and center on our computer screens, on talk radio shows and on our minds.

The question of Obama’s anger is especially timely to me because of a discussion I had a couple of days ago with my manager and friend, Cornelius Harris, of Alter Ego Management. He stressed the importance of guarding my own words to avoid projecting what some people may perceive as an “angry black man” persona. Cornelius emphasized that a seemingly harmless and even humorous conversation could be misinterpreted because of our society’s racial conditioning. It’s not just an issue for Obama. This is something black men face in the boardroom, at the bus stop and in the world of music.

John Blake’s article on CNN.com asks point blank: “Who would have ever expected some white Americans to demand that an African-American man show more rage?”

Obama’s presidency forces America to confront its fear of the black man, and along with the immigration debate, the so-called war on terror, and the many aspects of the economic crisis, we are openly talking about our fear of the brown man, the red man, the yellow man and even the white man. Race has become a common topic because in this multicultural society, our fear of “the other” has never been far from the surface.

On one hand, this is a good thing. These are conversations that we’ve largely avoided in the post-civil rights era. The climate of fear is high right now, so perhaps this is some sort of group therapy, where we talk about some of the fears and phobias that persist in our lives.

However, as Julia Reed points out in the CNN segment above, all this talk of race may be distracting us from the real issues at hand. (Notably, the only woman in the debate asks about the logic of even having the argument.)

How much do our racial attitudes play into our perception of public figures and the people we interact with every day in the office, on the street or over the Internet? Do these attitudes (or even the analysis of the tensions) distract us from the real problems of environmental disaster, corporate and political corruption, and economic meltdown?

And perhaps most importantly, can’t we all just get along?

In this article from Black Voices, Jeff Mays states that it’s tough to be a black boy in Nashville, Tennessee. I would argue that it’s tough for black boys all over. These problems aren’t exclusive to Nashville, and it doesn’t get better as those boys grow into men. If anything it gets worse.

According to Mays, “nationally, black kids are suspended three times more often than whites.”

The treatment some black males receive in school only conditions them to future stigmatization and negative behaviors. The practice of treating black male students more harshly for behavioral problems is the first step for the school-to-prison pipeline, the trend of dealing with our children as criminals as opposed to the still-developing, potential-filled young people that they are.

Behavioral problems among young boys are real. As hormones begin to explode, and whatever environmental concerns erupt, kids exhibit all kinds of strange behavior.

But how much of this suspension issue is based on teachers’ and administrators’ perception of black boys as problem children? Read the rest of this entry »