Social Justice

Expose Fake Justice Activism

Much to my dismay, I often find the most visible and vociferous voices advocating for justice on social media are inauthentic and milquetoast voices. These folks are primarily interested in people clapping for them and amassing the most “likes,” “loves,” and retweets on social media. While they’re known for employing fiery, robust rhetoric, they refuse to speak truth to power to racists and White supremacists, including to those who employ them. Many of these disingenuous justice activists pose as radicals but are unwilling to embrace and engage in radical praxis and politics.

To embrace and engage in radical praxis and politics necessitates alacrity for risking something valuable for the cause of justice, including losing one’s employment. If you’re unwilling to risk losing your job or career for the cause of justice, then your justice activism is a farce—it’s ultimately about self-promotion, self-aggrandizement.

Those of us truly committed to authentic justice activism and radical praxis and politics need to be just as visible and vociferous in our critique of their ersatz activism. This phony justice activism threatens true justice activism, fooling many that it’s real and needs replicating. As someone who has taught English at the middle and high school and university levels for over twenty years, I love the power of words, the gift of language. To realize radical transformation in America, to see racial, social, economic, educational justice materialize, we need more genuine radical activism, activism centering transformative actions—not self-indulgent, attention-seeking tweets and Facebook posts.

Real justice activists must expose those posing as justice activists on social media by asking them some important questions: (1) What have you risked for the cause of justice?, (2) What have you lost for the cause of justice?, and (3) What transformative actions have you taken and are taking for the cause of justice? These questions will unsettle and unnerve phonies, but, more importantly, these queries will unmask their vacuous messages.

Authenticity needs defending. When it’s not, truth becomes distorted, and we fall down a slippery slope of normalizing deceit.

As an increasing number of people are engaging in false justice activism, we must recognize they are enemies of justice. Although fake justice activists aren’t in the same camp as racists and White supremacists, they hinder meaningful progress in similar ways. The next time, therefore, you see a phony posing as a justice activist, expose him or her.

Call out those working in the interest of racism and White supremacy—even when they pretend their self-promoting social media messages further the cause of justice.

Dr. Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Understanding the George Floyd Uprisings

Photo Credit: Al Jazeera

Too many whites and, unfortunately, too many blacks are communicating that they don’t understand why many protests emerging after the lynching of George Floyd by corrupt white police officer Derek Chauvin—with lethal assistance from three other evil police officers, Thomas Lane, J.A. Kueng, and Tou Thao—in Minneapolis, Minnesota, feature some rioting, looting, violence, and significant property damage. These whites and blacks assert that they don’t see the purpose of such licentiousness, especially since, from their collective perspective, this will not resurrect George Floyd. In this piece, I offer clarity about some of the reasoning that informs illicit elements of the George Floyd uprisings.

This will, therefore, disabuse folks of the argument that the uprisings lack purpose. Although one may disagree with unlawful elements of these uprisings, once a rationale is divulged, one cannot genuinely say that the criminal acts are meaningless; one can oppose the meaning offered, but future attempts to claim these uprisings are bereft of purpose will be intellectually disingenuous.

The George Floyd uprisings signal a national and global flowering of resistance to the vicious and enduring legacies of racism, white supremacy, Jim and Jane Crow, poverty, and militarism that the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM), an organic and revolutionary citizens’, including global citizens, movement for racial, social, economic, and educational justice, has initiated. To be clear, these uprisings are part of the BLM.

Is Peaceful Protesting Possible?

Although most in the BLM are peaceful, non-violent people, they are fighting for peace. They are protesting the absence of peace in America. This dearth of peace does not make “peaceful protesting,” as traditionally conceived, possible. When so many racists, especially those who can employ state power against blacks, are unwilling to recognize black humanity, blacks and their allies cannot “peacefully protest”—if by “peacefully protest” one means asking for equity, freedom, and justice.

If you’re black, it’s futile to ask racists, especially those capable of using state power, for anything. They don’t see and hear you. What most of us in the BLM are doing isn’t asking anyone for anything; we’re demanding equity, freedom, and justice. For blacks and other ethnic minorities, we can never have peace in America until we force America to see and hear us.

America can never be a nation of peace until she’s compelled.

See and Hear Black People

While rioting, looting, and violence develop sometimes during demonstrations by those in the BLM, although these prohibited acts are primarily done by opportunists, individuals and organizations unconnected to the BLM, blacks are now being seen and heard. Racists and whites who are not allies of those in the BLM are feeling unsafe and experiencing significant financial wounds due to property damage and loss.

Whites see and hear blacks when they feel unsafe and have their money seriously affected.

The George Floyd uprisings are forcing the nation and world to see and hear black people.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Explained Rioting

In “The Other America,” a speech delivered at Stanford University, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., contended:

“I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”

If you don’t like “riots,” then radically change the “certain conditions” that “continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots.” For whites and blacks who don’t understand why some are resorting to rioting, looting, violence, and general lawlessness, remember Dr. King’s powerful words: “…a riot is the language of the unheard.” King let us know what America has not heard from the unheard: its poverty and denied freedom and justice.

Also, I want to accentuate, as it is critical to those lacking comprehension about why some are engaging in rioting, looting, violence, and general lawlessness, Dr. King’s point about how many whites have failed to recognize that they are more concerned about peace and the status quo than justice, equality and humanity: “And it [America] has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity.”

Dr. King ultimately indicted America, white America, as responsible for the “certain conditions that continue to exist” that promote rioting: “And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again.”

If you want the rioting to end, then implement Dr. King’s solution: “Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”

While Dr. King joined white America’s advocacy for peace (“tranquility”), he desired for white America to be just as committed to justice, equality, and humanity. Too many whites, however, have failed to heed this message.

Black People Have Had Enough

George Floyd is the latest example of how it has always been “open season” on blacks in America. An increasing number of white police officers are heinously and senselessly killing blacks in public and private space. And black people and their allies have had enough.

Again, we’ve had enough.

We’re showing you we’ve had enough.

We’ve been tired of white folks killing us, including at the hands of white police officers, but you, white America, are beginning to feel just how tired we are.

Too many black bodies have been murdered by white police officers and white people in general. No one has been held accountable for most of the black blood on their white blood-stained hands.

If you don’t like what you’re witnessing, then become a part of the change, radical transformation America needs.

The Dawning of a New America

A beautiful multi-ethnic national and global coalition demanding equity and justice for all is rising; you see it in your streets and on your televisions.

America will become a more just, more equitable, more peaceful nation, and the revolution that will engender this radical transformation will, in part, be televised, tweeted, and shared on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Dr. Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Connect Intellectual Diversity to Justice Work

(Photo Credit: Democracy Now)

Although an aggressive pursuit of racial, social, economic, and educational justice is admirable and necessary, those engaged in justice work must connect intellectual diversity to their efforts. You cannot claim to champion justice while failing to welcome and appreciate ideas and viewpoints divergent from your own. Justice isn’t justice when it’s disconnected from love. In fact, Dr. Cornel West, one of the greatest minds, public intellectuals, and fighters for justice in world history, often says, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” Are you so “woke” that you only see your ideas and viewpoints as the vehicles through which change can be instigated and engendered?

Democracy, Intellectual Diversity, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

When looking at how to create change, one doesn’t have to look any further than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a real change agent and justice leader, the man who changed America forever. King met, engaged, and debated everyone, including racists and those desiring to kill and undermine him. He understood to develop solutions that have broad support discourse with those known and perceived to be disagreeable is required. The world-renowned slain civil rights leader was serious about democracy, keenly aware of how frank debate, especially with various opposing sides, is essential to an authentic multivocal, multiethnic democracy.

Kingian democracy, therefore, longs for inclusion, inclusion of all voices—regardless of how unsavory—revealing an unwavering faith in democratic ethics and possibilities. In Prophetic Fragments: Illuminations of the Crisis in American Religion and Culture, Cornel West (1988) asserts that: “King was convinced that despite the racism of the Founding Fathers, the ideals of America were sufficient if only they were taken seriously in practice. Therefore, King’s condemnation of and lament for America’s hypocrisy and oppression of poor whites, indigenous peoples, Latinos, and black people was put forward in the name of reaffirming America’s mission of embodying democracy, freedom, and equality” (p. 11).

King didn’t exclude the racist Founding Fathers from his notion of democracy. Unfortunately, though, too many in the postmodern epoch isolate themselves from others for far less critical differences. In this moment of increasing moral, social, cultural, political, and religious decadence, people will isolate themselves from others over the most inconsequential personal choices, including a choice not to “boycott” the NFL or make posts on social media platforms that pledge allegiance to their capricious brands of “woke.”

King embraced the reality that any valid notion of freedom and democracy must welcome intellectual diversity. As Booker T. Washington stated in his 1895 “Atlanta Compromise” speech delivered at the Cotton Estates and International Exposition in Atlanta, “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” Washington, sharing some affinities with King, understood the power of intellectual diversity. Washington anticipates the Kingian “beloved community.” With agapic love, King evinced for a nation, for the globe how potent, how beautiful diversity in all of its flavors can be and how we can enjoy being “separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand.”

Postmodern Fragmentation: A Challenge for Justice Work

In Postmodernism or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, leading Marxist cultural theorist Fredric Jameson (1991) asserts that one of the central problems in postmodernism, the cultural and historical period in which we reside, is a general proclivity to cherish fragmentation and reject totality. This fatuous acceptance of fragmentation figures prominently in whether efforts to achieve racial social, economic, and educational justice are successful. Late capitalism’s cultural logic leads too many individuals, individuals claiming to work for justice, to quarrel with one another over their petty differences, sacrificing their collective interests and aspirations for their own selfish interests and wishes.

Selfishness and Justice

To overcome this troubling propensity for selfishness, courageous and indefatigable justice activists and leaders must expose the rot, the funk selfishness is. We should never allow our personal agendas and interests to hinder and supercede the collective good, interests, and aspirations. When we do, we equip and permit the elites, the oppressors, the ruling class to erect additional barriers to the work of justice that’s crucial to achieving justice.

Before you disengage with people, especially those who have the same interests and goals as you (just with differing ideas and methods pertaining to those interests and goals), recognize when your words and actions are self-defeating, frustrating the very justice work you profess to hold dear.

Dr. Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Support Underserved Mothers: Give Hope and Empowerment

The Why You? Initiative, a charitable tax-exempt organization, is currently engaging in an effort to ameliorate the social, economic and professional outcomes of young girls and women who are mothers from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Our organization is committed to providing educational, economic, and professional development opportunities to these deserving individuals, including paid internships and mentoring. We are in Phase II of this endeavor, “Mothers on the Margins: Empowering Hope Project,” and to make this project materialize, we will need $1,350 by April 21, 2016. Can I count on you to be one of the 54 people who will donate $25 to meet this quickly approaching deadline? All donations are tax-deductible. Make your donations here: Mothers on the Margins: Empowering Hope Project.

To learn more about The Why You? Initiative, affectionately known as “[YU?],” visit here: Why You?. The organization was recently featured by a local news station: Why You? News.

Thank you,

Dr. Antonio Maurice Daniels

Co-Founder

The Why You? Initiative

A Prayer for Ferguson, Michael Brown’s Family, Unity and Justice

(Photo Credit: Slate)

Father God in the name of Jesus,

Right now, I ask that you would comfort and strengthen the family and friends of Michael Brown. You are the only one who can heal them in the places where they’re broken. They’ve been living with the reality Michael Brown died an unnecessary death. Darren Wilson allowed anger and disregard for Black life to result in the murder of Brown. Lord, only you can change the heart of Darren Wilson and all those like him who don’t value Black life. I ask you to change the hearts of people who don’t value Black life. Transform all hearts to love Black life. Have Wilson to turn himself in and confess his wrongdoings to the authorities. While many people will not believe that this will happen, everything we place in your powerful hands can be done.

Justice has not been served in the Michael Brown case. Lord, I ask you to bring swift justice in the Brown case. Let the people across the nation know that this “open season” on Black males is over. For those who are protesting in response to this injustice, give them hope that a brighter day is coming. Use the efforts of the protesters to engender and implement serious reforms regarding policing, beginning with a mandatory requirement that all police officers wear body cameras.

Jesus, you are the true answer to injustice. All of the best ideas in the world are inadequate without you. America needs an outpouring of love. Let what’s going on in Ferguson become the catalyst for life-changing love. People must understand that at the root of racism, discrimination, inequality and injustice is sin. Those without Salvation need to come to you Jesus and repent. Without you Lord, they are living in darkness and don’t have a true understanding of goodness.

We need unity in this country, but the senseless killings of Black boys and men across the nation will not promote unity. On this Thanksgiving, I ask that you unite the American people. We’re stronger as a nation when we’re united.

The voices of those who are protesting in Ferguson deserve to be heard and respected. Let their voices be heard and respected. Give the Brown family peace on this day. Let the family know that you’re still in control. Peace will come when justice prevails.

Again, Lord, bring your swift and righteous justice.

I ask all of these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

3 Benefits of a National Conversation about Black Males and Police Power

(Photo Credit: Ripp Dem Up)

Too many Black male lives are being lost at the hands of White police officers abusing their power. The lives of Black boys and men matter. Their lives matter enough to have a serious national discourse about how their lives are increasingly threatened by abused police power. Democrats, Republicans and Independents must genuinely participate in this national conversation. Police officers are charged with the noble responsibility of protecting and serving the American people—not doing unlawful harm to them. Black boys and men are Americans and deserve the same equal and quality protection and service that every American has a right to enjoy. Many White police officers, however, haven’t gotten the memo about their responsibility to apply justice equally and fairly among all Americans, including Black boys and men. Clear thinking Americans must call for a national discourse to take place about abused police power and its impact on Black boys and men. What follows is a list of three of many benefits of having a national discourse about the problems with many police officers abusing their power when interacting with Black boys and men.

1. Increase Confidence in Police Officers in Minority Communities

If more confidence in police officers is to emerge from minority communities across the nation, then an authentic national discourse about police abuse of power must take place. Many racial and ethnic minorities want the nation to hear their voices about how they lack faith in numerous White police officers’ willingness to serve and protect them. Many minorities posit that police officers are out for their destruction. This hostility that exists between many in minority communities and the police can only be positively addressed by having a genuine national discourse about it, and then implementing policies at the local, state, and federal levels to respond to credible problems.

2. Dramatically Reduce the Number of Senseless Police Killings of Black Males

Again, the lives of Black boys and men matter. Too many Black boys and men are being murdered by police officers because they’re being unfairly targeted by many White police officers. If America doesn’t get serious about police officers’ unjustified killings of Black males, then this country is headed down a terrible and bloody road to race wars between Whites and Blacks, leading to unnecessary losses of precious lives. A national discourse about these senseless murders of Black boys and men can lead to important solutions about how better to prevent and fight against these injustices.

3. Help to Improve Racial Divides between Blacks and Whites Caused by Police

Unfortunately, unnecessary walls are erected between numerous Blacks and Whites because of intentionally nefarious actions of White police officers against Black boys and men. We shouldn’t allow the racism of many police officers to divide those of us who aren’t racists. A national conversation about police abuse of power engenders an opportunity to separate the racists from the non-racists.

Conclusion

In America, we continue to avoid having the important discourses we need to have as a nation. It seems that vital conversations needing to take place at the local, state, and federal levels aren’t happening because countless individuals lack the courage to engage in these difficult conversations. The American people will grow more divided by avoiding essential race matters. We don’t magically become more united by abandoning discussions about race—we continue to grow farther apart by neglecting frank discourses about race.

Let’s have an honest national conversation about police abuse of power when interacting with Black boys and men. Our country will be better for having this conversation.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Reverend Markel Hutchins: Linking Activism and Ministry

(Photo Credit: WSB TV)

A champion for racial, social and economic justice and product of Morehouse College, Reverend Markel Hutchins serves as a shining progressive example of how postmodern Black preachers should be passionately active in their communities. Hutchins has not been derelict in his duty to engage in civil and human rights efforts, efforts like those Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X championed. Even when he was in high school, one could see a burgeoning fighter for justice in the making: He led a march against the proliferation of drugs in the neighborhood surrounding his school. Mr. Hutchins went on to become an ordained Baptist minister, leading Markel Hutchins Ministries. Although there are laws prohibiting clergymen from being politically engaged in the confines of places of worship, this does not mean they cannot be involved in issues pertaining to social and economic policy affecting their communities, especially outside of their places of worship. Hutchins certainly understands this.

Reverend Hutchins has an acute awareness of the power and significance of Black preachers’ serious involvement in political, social and economic issues during the Civil Rights Movement. Black preachers during that period understood how to minister to the comprehensive needs of their congregants. Yes, it’s one thing to feed one’s members spiritual food; another to feed their social, economic, professional and personal development. Mr. Hutchins has been highly attentive to the complete needs of those he leads. By doing this, he helps to further the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Although his leadership and ministry emerged in Atlanta, Georgia, a pivotal site during the Civil Rights Movement, his visionary leadership calls him to fight for justice throughout America.

When Black preachers invest in the communities in which they are situated, those communities become better places to live, work and play. Unfortunately, too many Black preachers are too concerned about their personal and church’s financial prosperity to involve themselves in essential community development. Numerous pusillanimous Black preachers hide behind their collars and robes instead of tackling challenging and critical issues in their communities, including homelessness, police brutality, unfair labor practices, criminal justice system abuses, and racism, as Reverend Hutchins has done and continues to do.

Ministries not advocating for their communities are purposeless.

Markel Hutchins Ministries has purpose, vision and results.

While we increasingly see, hear and read accounts of preachers involved in corruption, and it’s easy not to support any preacher—which is a product of a burgeoning nihilistic impulse in postmodernism—it’s important to pay tribute to those preachers who are making a remarkable difference in the lives of people and their communities. This is why we have to give Reverend Markel Hutchins his flowers while he’s living. Although you may not always agree with his methods and viewpoints, it’s clear this man loves his country deeply enough to hold it accountable to fulfilling its nonpareil ideals—expressed most vividly and eloquently in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. We should demand an America as good as it’s promised, and Hutchins is tireless warrior working to see those utopian founding ideals materialize.

When an individual thinks critically and comprehensively about the work Reverend Markel Hutchins has done and is doing, it becomes transparent why former Atlanta Mayor, Shirley Franklin, the first female mayor of Atlanta and first Black woman of a prominent Southern city, posits that he “will soon be celebrated as one of our nation’s most visible and viable public servants.”

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Make Racism a Bankrupting Phenomenon: The Donald Sterling Case

(Photo Credit: Salon)

The odious, hurtful and racist comments uttered by Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, warranted the immediate action taken by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Donald Sterling for life from the NBA. He cannot have any association with the Los Angeles Clippers and the NBA, and he’s not allowed to attend any NBA games. Silver gave Sterling the highest fine possible, and Silver has vowed to do all that he can do to have Sterling voted out as owner of the Clippers. The Clippers’ players have cleverly protested the hateful remarks of their racist owner, and several businesses and sponsors have withdrawn their associations with Sterling and the Clippers. NBA fans and the American people in general have expressed their great outrage in response to the racist comments made by Sterling. The collective response to the Sterling case offers a promising window of opportunity to move us closer to making those who choose to be racists suffer tremendous economic losses, bankrupting them if possible.

Donald Sterling is a horrible human being, and the things he said evince that he has a slave master mentality. If Black people and other minorities are going to weaken the power of racism, then they must use a case like the Donald Sterling case in subversive ways to launch potent attacks on the enduring post-slavery racism and remaining vestiges of Jim Crow that are deep and powerful parts of the American political, economic and social system. Without the collective outrage of minorities and Whites conveyed throughout the country in response to Sterling, the likelihood of Commissioner Silver rendering the decision he did yesterday would have been slim to none. Although many people want to characterize the vociferous groundswell of national opposition to Sterling as insufficient, and many have harshly criticized the Clippers’ players for not doing enough to protest Sterling’s racism, these critics fail to see the strong utopian energies at work in the collective response to Sterling. Before Mr. Silver’s decision, the collective response to Sterling was primarily communicated through words only. The verbal outrage divulged by numerous Americans across the nation and NBA players, including the Clippers’ players, served robust and important functions: it made racism even less desirable and it placed intense pressure on Mr. Silver to reach the type of decision he did.

This collective outrage primarily communicated through words must transition to a collective language of resistance that then materializes into impactful collective action.

Those who highly oppose racism need to use Donald Sterling as a symbol of fear for current racists and those who will choose to be racists in the future about what can happen to them. Although Donald Sterling will remain an incredibly rich man even if the NBA’s Board of Governors votes to force him to sell the Clippers, a resounding message will be disseminated to other racists: you may pay a prohibitive political, social and economic price for your racism that could inevitably lead you to being bankrupt.

NBA fans and the American people in general must place significant pressure on the NBA’s Board of Governors to mandate that Sterling sell the Clippers. There must be a willingness by NBA fans to boycott NBA games, team and league sponsors and businesses that support the league and its teams if the Board of Governors does not vote out Sterling. This message must be communicated to the Board of Governors in various ways, including through social media, television, radio, newspapers, letters, protest rallies across the nation, and etc. The Clippers’ players need to involve themselves actively in influencing the decision of the Board of Governors. Players from all other NBA teams and from across all teams in other sports need to demand that the Board of Governors vote out Sterling. The members of the Board of Governors love money and NBA fans, as consumers, have to use their money as a weapon against the members of the Board of Governors and their strategic interests.

Again, Sterling will be a very rich man no matter what the members of the Board of Governors decide, considering he made a highly lucrative and clever investment in the Clippers and made many auspicious investments in the real estate industry. The Board of Governors can, however, discontinue his ability to increase his wealth through his ownership of the Clippers and greatly diminish his power and prestige in the real estate industry and other industries he may attempt to pursue. He will no longer be able to increase his wealth from the labor of Black male bodies in the NBA. Sterling’s personal use of plantation ideology in the NBA will be extinguished.

When we are able to expose other racists in the same or similar ways as Sterling was, we should make every effort to cause them to face bankruptcy. If you want to cause a serious decrease in the power and prevalence of racism in America, then you must significantly reduce the economic and social incentives of it.

Let’s not become so consumed in discourses specifically about Donald Sterling and the venom he spewed out of his corroded mouth; let’s use his case to inaugurate a new movement against racism.

Bankrupting racists must become a grand political strategy employed by individuals of all political persuasions and ideologies.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madision