Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
What is this weird binary where people are shaming Kamala Harris criticism with variations of “shutup and vote for her and Biden?” Two things can be true. We can note that we’re voting for Biden and Harris because Trump is on demon time. And we can also note that Harris and Biden aren’t far behind.
This ticket is not an achievement. This is not a time for pageantry. Kamala Harris devoted decades of her life to entrenching mass incarceration. She doesn’t represent me, or, hopefully, any Black woman and/or South Asian that’s reading this. I’ll be able to call out any insults that come at her on racist or sexist grounds because racism and sexism are wrong, but that has nothing to do with her. I’m not amplifying her (and JFC, I don’t care for Obama either). More coming on that next week.
We know that nobody with a moral compass has much of a choice if they choose to vote. Trump is a scourge to human rights. He’s mobilized domestic terrorists. He’s spent four years rolling back rights for every marginalized group in the country. He’s destroyed an incalculable amount of families. He’s gotta go.
As Angela Davis said, this election “is about choosing a candidate who can be most effectively pressured into allowing more space for the evolving anti-racist movement.” Many liberals manipulated her statement as pro-Biden instead of anti-demagoguery. Curiously, few of these liberals also amplified that Davis is a radical communist and has been for abolishing the carceral state for years before the idea even sniffed mainstream discussion.
That omission underscores their centrism and insensitivity to how people are experiencing this moment. In June, the movement looked like it was making legitimate progress toward potentially defunding police departments. Now, after two months of inaction by the establishment, they want us to celebrate two people who will further entrench the carceral state. That’s disheartening. True allyship would have been understanding that there’s no pride or excitement in voting for lesser evil, again. It’s still evil. instead, liberals are beating us over the head with “shutup and vote,” and “you have no choice!” We know 😩
This circumstance falls on a brand of liberalism that feigns progressivism but is ultimately about sustaining the comfort of the status quo. It’s on white people and upper-class people of color who are fine with the country being a shitshow as long as protesters aren’t screaming down their block. These people are more conservative than progressive, they just know how to hide their true colors most of the time. Except this time they couldn’t, or Bernie Sanders would’ve been the Democratic nominee.
Progressive voters should pick Biden and Harris because they’ll have the decency to honor basic human rights (though they’re likely to continue Obama’s immigration efforts). But you know what those basic rights will do? They’re going to give people one less thing to worry about while they’re out here demonstrating against Biden and Harris for sustaining imperialism, capitalism, and an inhumane carceral state. So sure, vote for them, yes. But vote quietly. Don’t celebrate them, get ready to fight them every day.
quick takes
I think the NFL’s general apathy toward their workforce’s longterm health is being demonstrated in how they’re handling COVID. The NBA has its faults, but they took every precaution to make sure players are safe in the bubble. The NFL is letting players stay home and come to the arena, which sounds like a disaster. NFL teams employ around 3,739 people apiece between players, coaches, concession workers, and office staff. The fallout of an outbreak in a team facility is way more intense than with an NBA team. Not to mention the NFL has hoards of 280+ lb players for whom a respiratory disease could be serious. But the NFL doesn’t seem to care. Their feelings toward their workforce were cemented when they indicated reticence to give retired players benefits or even acknowledge CTE until players were committing violent acts. I don’t care if Kaep comes back with a $300 million dollar contract, I could never watch football the same again. I want to write more about this (😉 editors).
I tweeted this last week: Black people are not your personal shooting squad. I see a bunch of people saying “but no one’s shooting Zimmerman/cops” every time there’s an instance of violence. Can we kill that? Do not tell people to risk their lives doing something you wouldn’t do yourself. I understand the sentiment, but people who say this don’t understand that it’s a statement bore of a white supremacist pathology that views Black life as disposable and caps the capability of young Black men (primarily) at “shooter.” It’s as if you’re saying their best-case scenario for progression is turning their guns on who you want to be shot. If you want to act out a bloody vengeance fantasy, go for it yourself and see how well that works for you, but don’t suggest that for other people.
I’m working on a piece that got me thinking about how older artists engage with new acts. On the one hand, it’s important to give a kid a look and help them come up. But on the worst end of the spectrum, the older artist can very much look like they’re referencing or interacting with the younger artist to maintain the illusion of proximity to the streets. Like when Chief Keef and other drill artists came up, I remember how lines like Rick Ross’ “niggas be having beef / I keep me a young boy, call him my Chief Keef” and Jay-Z’s “I might buy a kilo for Chief Keef” played too much into a voyeuristic fascination with Keef’s image. It undermined them. I feel a similar way about Drake’s fascination with drill music. It reminds me of how often I hear people who grew up in the streets say they resent elders because they were the ones who taught them how to do everything wrong instead of right. Rap doesn’t have to mirror that dynamic.
bars of the moment
The more I look into the lives of Greek gods and goddesses, the more I understand how human emotions afflict even deities. They have all this power, these gifts, and yet, love, lust, rage, envy, greed, and the fear of death afflicted them. Rappers, especially in our modern times, represent all the feelings a person is faced with in pursuit of their legend. There’s not an artist today who isn’t documenting their rise to Olympus. The ones who make it will be remembered forever, and ever.
Yoh in Hip-Hop in 2020 Is Full of Greek Mythology piece
When rap repurposes Black dance music it not only stands out more than the sounds and style commonly associated with rap, but helps keep the history of Black dance music artists’ contributions to the genre alive.
Elijah Watson in More Contemporary Rap Should Sample Black Electronic Dance Music piece
if kamala harris is the best of what our black institutions (hbcus, bglo) can produce then we should abolish them too.
This really needs to be said blatantly:
it is upper middle class cis-het Black folks who are actively setting the movement behind — time and time again.
artifact
It’s XXL Freshman season, which is a time that kind of annoys me because everyone gets to talking about what artists should be doing what and when. It ties into this capitalistic ascension narrative we obsess over with every new artist. We like an artist, then we feel like they need to hit every arbitrary benchmark along the way or else we get disappointed they won’t be a “star” AKA the next tool for consumerism. Nevermind that they’re releasing music all the while, it’s the external valuation of that music that we armchair spectate. I hope we can all fundamentally unlearn that process.
We can’t help but do it. I still do it a lot. Everyone has their own pace. There’s no formula for stardom, honors like the XXL Freshman list are just projections. Here’s an audio clip from 1986, where legendary DJ Mr. Magic announces a Rap Contest in which Jay-Z is a participant. He says “who knows you might be checking out a star of the future.” It was still another 10 years before he dropped his debut album — but he more than made good on Magic’s statement when his time came.
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Venmo: Andre-Gee