Dear Black History Month

Today's the 28th of February, which only means one thing: Spring Break!!! No... Sadly, the end of February evokes one of my favorite times: your end, Black History Month. I know you're wondering: 'What's wrong with this fool?' and 'Why would he want me to end?'. Just consider this, BHM. At the beginning of the month, you were the number 3 Trending Topic on Twitter (#blackhistorymonth). Today, you were nowhere to be found in the top ten, and after extensive Googling, I found you were somewhere among the 50s. Now, that's not to say that Twitter's fickle, ever-changing palate is indicative of the direction that your celebration is taking. Yet, one can't help but think that after, let's say Valentine's Day, the amount of attention that's paid to you decreases exponentially.

BHM, the reason I find you so lame is because, quite frankly, I don't believe we need you. In my 22 years on this planet, I've been witness to year after year of school productions, TV specials, random periodicals, store promotions, and now even sneakers all 'commemorating' your legacy. Since when has the recognition of a race's accomplishments in western world come standard Nike-trademarked footwear? It's even funnier that those sneakers did come out, considering the stereotype about black people and kicks. I'm surprised there isn't a blackhistorymonth.com at this point, with how much of a ploy you've become.

I think you've become a platform for everyone to slop on an extra helping of ethnocentric semantics over a plate of already-known facts. Seriously, BHM. Do we need you to remind us of our accomplishments? Shouldn't we lament these facts and pride points and people every day? Why take the shortest month, add your name to it, and for 28 16 (prorated for bad memory, All-Star Weekend and Valentine,s Day) days have everyone piously pledge allegiance to 'Blackness', when we all know on March 1st, everything is going straight back to normal. I realize that's a very cynical view, but with all of these fools quoting the same lines from the 'I Have a Dream' speech (the Letter from the Birmingham Jail was better, anyway), I can't help but give you the side-eye.

BHM, you've given us a pass to be all about peace and black love and Afrocentricity for a month, without realizing that the people we celebrate today struggled 365 days, 24 hours and 7 days a week... AND they didn't have you to rile them up every 11 months. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and the 3 other black historical figures my grade school history books talked about didn't do all that good stuff (along with a lot of bad; check MLK's rap sheet, seriously) because they knew they'd have a month of people quoting them and talking about them. They did it so that people could advance without the same fight. They didn't want you to be a celebratory 'month'. They wanted black history in the everyday little things, not just for a month. That's what King was talking about in the 'I Have a Dream' speech: his kids playing in the front yard, not a military coup or weeklong sit-in where everyone is singing 'Wade in the Water', donning dashikis and eating bean pies.

BHM, I won't sit here and say I'm on the frontlines in Libya dodging bullets for freedom, or in court still trying to litigate on Sean Bell's behalf, but I surely am trying to make something of myself. Your celebration shouldn't be a catalyst for our awareness and recognition of the 'struggle'. It should be a high point, if anything. We should be striving to make those legacies we hear about worth something every day. That's why I'm happy you're over. Now, we can get back to work. Now, we don't have your shadow over us to make EVERYTHING black. I can disagree with my black brethren without getting the 'self-hating black man' speech. We can just drop the 'month' and get down to making #blackhistory...

Dear Walkmans

via The New York Times:

Sony is sending its cassette tape Walkman into retirement in Japan as demand for a music player that was ground-breaking in its day dwindles to a tiny niche in the era of digital technology.

Sony stopped Japanese production of the portable music player in April and sales will end once the last batch disappears from stores, company spokeswoman Hiroko Nakamura said Monday.

Sony has sold 220 million cassette Walkman players globally since the product's July 1979 debut that changed lifestyles by popularizing music on the go. More than 30 years later, the cassette Walkman has been rendered an anachronism by MP3 players and iPods. Demand for cassette players in Japan is now largely limited to elderly users. But Sony will continue production of the cassette Walkman in China to accommodate users abroad, including in the U.S., Europe and some Asian countries, Nakamura said.

It is a sad day in music technology. As we enter the day and age where EVERYTHING is on the internet, the media we used to inject our music on is becoming thing of the past. As with the traditional vinyl record, 8-track player, VHS and Betamax, every media format has its dying day. For you, oh great Sony Walkman, with your cassette tapes, that day is upon us. Built in 1979 to a throng of no one (people were still convinced 8-tracks could catch on), you enabled people to take their favorite recordings with them wherever they went. They could use your format-able cassette tapes to record whatever they wanted, from long riffs by jam bands to four hour-long radio blocks with their favorite rappers. Walkman, hip-hop, and music today, would be nowhere without you. You single-handedly began what we call filesharing today.

In the 80s you were synonymous with youth culture, as beat-dwellers were lost in their headphones everywhere you could be taken. My mother said you were the reason my generation would go deaf, though ironically I heard everything you blasted in my ears. Your convenience was unparalleled. Whereas record players and 8-tracks needed an absurd amount of space, all you needed were two double A batteries and a pair of headphones to turn a routine walk to the gym into a personal concert. I can't tell you the last time I've used one of you, but I'm sure in some dusty basement, you're there, just waiting to play 'The Chronic' or 'Illmatic' for some unwitting soul who would never know your magic otherwise. Yes, we dropped you in lieu of CD's and newer versions of your namesake, but your original form will be remembered the most. Walkman, you will be sorely missed as we move into an era where removable media is forgotten and iPods thrust their sound waves into our eardrums. As a child of the 80s (90s really), I'm sad to see you go by the wayside, but happy to have known you, even if half of my cassettes got recorded over by accident...

Dear Gay Marriage

My how times HAVEN'T changed...

via The New York Times:

A federal judge in San Francisco struck down California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage on Wednesday, handing a temporary victory to gay rights advocates in a legal battle that seems all but certain to be settled by the Supreme Court. Wednesday’s decision is just the latest chapter of what is expected to be a long legal battle over the ban — Proposition 8, which was passed in 2008 with 52 percent of the vote -- and proponents were already promising to appeal, confidently predicting that higher courts would be less accommodating to the other side than Vaughn R. Walker, the judge who issued the ruling.

Still, the very existence of federal-level ruling recognizing same-sex marriage in California, the nation’s most populous state, set off cheers from crowds assembled in front of the courthouse in San Francisco Wednesday afternoon. Evening rallies and celebrations were planned in dozens of cities across California and several across the nation.

In San Francisco, the plaintiffs’ case was argued by David Boies and Theodore Olson, ideological opposites who once famously sparred in the 2000 Supreme Court battle beween George W. Bush and Al Gore over the Florida recount and the presidency. The lawyers brought the case — Perry v. Schwarzenegger — in May 2009 on behalf of two gay couples who said that Proposition 8 impinged on their Constitutional rights to equal protection and due process. For gay rights advocates, same-sex marriage has increasingly become a central issue in their battle for equality, seen as both an emotional indicator of legitimacy and as a practical way to lessen discrimination.

I've got a confession to make. You know those annoying 18-24 year olds you see in train stations and on street corners in trendy neighborhoods trying to get you to give them money for (insert cause here)? Well, I was one of those people. Albeit, it was only for two months as I raised some much needed funding, but I learned a great deal about patience and the importance of lobbying. That's neither here nor there. It's just to say that the movement to legalize you, gay marriage has been bubbling over for years now. Gay marriage, I'm not going to sit ehre and say that I'm completely for you. I believe that homosexuality is wrong religiously. Yet, as I so eloquently placed in my pitches to passers-by, there's no reason that the government should be able to tell people who they can't marry. None.

Gay marriage, you are this generation's civil rights movement (along with health care reform and marijuana (for some), which is quite refreshing to say, honestly. You are this generation's (hopeful) victory that we will be able to look back on in 20 years and say that we supported rather than downplayed. While the ruling in California only overturned Proposition 8 in that state, and is likely to be appealed by those stick-up-the-ass conservatives, you're still something to fight for. You give a silent group a voice by allowing them the same unalienable rights that every other potential marriage should have. The United States is full of kooky double standards that no one wants to fess up to. Your banning is one of those double standards. How can we call ourselves the land of the free when some of our citizens can't marry freely, or the home of the brave when a good portion of our citizens are scared of you becoming legal? America talks a good talk, but until you have your fair day in court and come out a free institution, our country is failing on its promises and its Constitution. I guess this is kind of a preachy letter. At the same time, the opposition are still preaching, using religion and fear to influence political views against you. If they can stand in their (proverbial) pulpits, I can use my keyboard. I may not agree with you're concept spiritually, but politically you should be as legal as anything, gay marriage. Relish this victory, because the road won't get easier from here on out. I suppose the fight is half the beauty of victory, though. Keep fighting...

Dear Michael Eric Dyson

It's been a while since I've seen a debate both this funny and this indicative of the shift in the eyes of the man from outright 'I hate niggers, spics and Japs' racism, to 'we have to keep these people uninformed so they don't know their history' racism. Professor Dyson, you were up at odds against 'the Man' incarnate. From the moment this discussion on Arizona's decision to ban ethnic studies started, it was obvious that you were up against not just the Arizona school superintendent, but a mindset that seeks to keep children in line with the ideal image of America: the land of opportunity and dreams. Michael, you and I both know that the US of A is not as rosy and dreamy as Arizona would like us to believe. You and I both know of the struggle that all ethnic groups have trudged through for the past two centuries in this country. We know the ills of not knowing your history, not knowing the true legacy of a country and what happens when racism takes the form of 'liberal', yet ignorant whites.

The superintendent used this policy of stopping racial separation (not segregation) in schools, as if teaching children different cultures would cause rifts. He tried to use the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. to justify that cockamamie idea, saying that people should be judged by the content of their character. Professor Dyson, you made the greatest point though: you can't twist words to make them fit your agenda, no matter who says them. You made him sweat. You made him repeat the same phrase about 6 times over the course of the interview, stumbling over his words and feeling like the idiot he truly is. It's even crazier because the guy made the use of Che Guevara's likeness into a bad thing, saying that kids were inciting anarchy and promoting communism. Professor Dyson, you were alive during the latter parts of the Red Scare. This type of rhetoric is eerily similar, though now, it's kids being admonished because they take an active interest in the way that the government is run.

Professor Dyson, you brought the superintendent's (note, I still haven't called that twit by his names) plans of running for office to the light, also indicative of a government that is content with the ignorant status quo as long as they stay in office. If this wasn't 'the Man's' coming out party, then I don't know what is. As a matter of fact, I hope that every American can see this video to understand how bass-ackwards we are trying to teach our children at the expense of history that is relevant. I'm tired of seeing history taught from the perspectives of the oppressors. All that does is enforce an underlying air of inferiority, no matter how much Arizona schools want to push that the opposite espouses inferiority. If America is at the brink of racial and cultural upheaval, Arizona is at the forefront, and for good reason. If we had more minds like you, Mr. Dyson, I'm sure that the struggle for understanding will end sooner rather than later...