nathanjamespoet

[nathanjamespoet]

"Dere was an old Nigga They call'd him Uncle Ned He's dead long ago, long ago! He had no wool on de top ob his head De place where de wool ought to grow" -Stephen Foster For years I've been complaining about the Stephen Foster memorial statue that sits in the heart of Pittsburgh on Pitt campus (in front of the Carnegie Library). Shout out to Brentin Mock for this cover article from Pittsburgh City Paper back in the day where I tried to bring attention to it. If you visit this statue, you will find him seated and writing sheet music. But you will also see at his feet...a balding old black man with very few teeth, no shoes, and a banjo. His memorial building across the street, home to Pitt Theater plays, also houses his original sheet music in which you can see the N-Word in several lyrics (meanwhile, August Wilson's childhood home has been left in shambles for decades...but I digress). For those who don't know, Stephen Foster is considered the father of parlor and minstrel music, which would later become "Black face" minstrelsy. I already know what people are going to say, because I've been hearing it for years. He was popular for other songs as well...most notably, 'Oh Susana.' But, this statue is not a celebration of Susana, is it? Many think this old man is Uncle Ned from the lyrics above. Some also think it could be a character from one of his most popular songs, "Old Black Joe" (a song about a former slave who is sad about now being free, and missing the "fun" he had with his other slave friends in the cotton fields). No one alive knows whether Stephen Foster actually hated black people. Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, but I'm pretty sure he didn't condone the actions of the Facebook-Live killer. Sometimes it's not what a person creates, but what people choose to do with it. But, what we do know is that he was aware that his music became a symbol for white men during the reconstruction era and capitalized off of it. Many people think slavery had the biggest impact on our society today. I beg to differ. I would say it was the paranoia of white men during reconstruction, who now had to compete for jobs with freed black men, and created social laws that set up white Privilege as we see it today. Because white men could not compete with the labor of former slaves, and also terrified that black men would come for payback on their wives and daughters for the treatment of black women, grotesque-dangerous images of black people (particularly black men) were created to dehumanize us and "keep us in our place." Stephen Foster became the father of the entertainment that enforced the need for Jim Crow laws (laws created after the image of a black-face character named, Jim Crow), and led to the slaughter and degradation of millions of black people. He was totally aware of these images when he was alive, and did nothing to counteract them. As a matter of fact, many of his songs are written in a broken English slave dialect, which were catered for these minstrel shows. Aside from this statue being totally offensive, there is also a historic-social undertone to it. If you aren't black, you may not see the huge deal (surprise, surprise). But, the old black man sitting at his feet is clearly older than he is, and represents the long struggle of black men and women who have been seen as "boys" and "girls" in the eyes of white people, and suffered from social laws that prevented black people from looking white men in the eye, walking on the same sidewalk, also having to answer to much younger whites (even white children) under the term "boy" and "girl." To be fair, (something black people are always expected to be with racism) I'm pretty sure he didn't request an old black slave, with no teeth or shoes, to be at the bottom of his statue. Of course he created other songs besides minstrel music, and should be remembered for his contributions to American music. But, the family and the city of Pittsburgh surely allowed this old black man to be put there, making THIS statue a celebration of black face minstrelsy...and not any of his other accomplishments. We can clearly see, from this statue, what the city of Pittsburgh is most proud of. Stephen Foster's statue is a symbol for white supremacy, and therefore must go. Please share and pass this along

[nathanjamespoet]

Photography credit: Christine Jean Chambers (CJC Photography)

Twitter: @ImNateJames

[nathanjamespoet]

👻Follow me on snapchat: ImNateJames

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"Don't mind the men behind the curtain" In the midst of the apology tour of my people after the #DallasPoliceShooting, I decided to give a slight commercial interruption to analyze some things (in list format) that aren't quite sitting well with me. I had to sit with this for a while before I spoke on it. Somehow, every time this country is up in arms about the murders of unarmed black people, some random crazy black person kills police officers. It happened immediately after Ferguson in Brooklyn, and the narrative quickly shifted. How convenient that this shooters name is Michah "X" Johnson, in a picture wearing a dashiki with his fist in the air. This isn't the first suspicious sniping incident in Dallas (hello, JFK) ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ So...here goes: After taking hours to come up with a story, they want us to believe that in a few hours time, after hearing about an impromptu Black Lives Matter march... A 25 year old Army RESERVES veteran (yes...a 25 year old Army reserves veteran...I shit you not 🙄). Side note: Did you all see the way he was moving in that surveillance video? He looked like he just got back from a Call of Duty black ops mission one week prior! That WAS NOT a 25 year old reserves veteran, with only 6 years of training. It would be more believable if it were a navy seal. But I digress... In only a few hours of knowing about the march and planning his attack, he had time to: 1. Plant bombs, while the police are securing the perimeter for the March. Bombs he just happened to have sitting around...ready to plant at the BLM march he knew nothing about prior to that day. 2. Shoot at the police with an AR-15 from an elevated parking lot, and lure them to a hotel where the bombs were planted (because yeah, he just knew he would get chased there). The police and media admitted that this is something that had to be planned well in advance. 3. Take on the entire Dallas PD and Dart Police on foot, shooting any officer in site, and taking no bullets. Yeah, a 25 year old reserves veteran.... 🙄 4. Have a stand off "negotiation" with police, as a black man, with no hostages. How do you negotiate with nothing to negotiate with? I guess they were negotiating to keep him from blowing the room up, only to end up blowing the room up. 5. Oh, and here's the REALLY good part. They send in a robot (a robot...I shit you not), to blow this man up. OH YEAH, and we were told it obliterated his body, and everything else in the room EXCEPT...wait for it...HIS DRIVER'S LICENSE!!!!! Everything thing else burned up, but his driver's license. Then some "random" leaked image hits the Internet of his dead body a few days later 🤔🤔🤔 Other bullshit: -Dallas PD put the wrong man's picture up as a suspect and claimed that he had bombs planted around Dallas (even though they had no idea who the shooter was, and had not communicated with him at that point, somehow...they knew he had bombs planted 🤔) -They say that the shooter claimed he wanted to kill cops...specifically "White Ones" (how convenient after the entire country is outraged over the deaths of two black men). And yes, they said he used the word "specifically" during an enraged killing spree. -Three other suspects were arrested, but their race and identities were never released. Two other suspects, who weren't black, were arrested in the NYPD shootings as well, and we never heard anything else about them after that. WHY DO ALL OF THIS? It was the PERFECT shift in the national conversation for the cops. The narrative immediately went from an urgency to reform police procedure, to the heroics/bravery of the cops who "protected" the very same people who protested "against" them. Though Black Lives Matter had nothing to do with it, it attached a level of danger to the BLM movement for people who are determined to label it a hate group. One lone shooter, who happened to be black, spun the narrative of Black Vs Blue, rather than black people pleading for their humanity. The media slipped in ways to spoon feed the public's perception that these marches were "against" police, rather than against police brutality. Now, the conversation has shifted from ways that WE as a nation can come together, instead of focusing on all the unarmed black bodies that are being murdered right in front of our eyes. It makes the issue of race once again "complex," and gives those who are desperately looking for a reason not to change, the ability to stay in their comfort level. They want white America to know, "this is why we treat black people this way...because of times like this". So, WE must now figure out how to stop mistreating black people. This is impossible, because black people can only heal once the age-old practices of racism have ended. It's like a big brother who keeps punching you in the face, and then says "I hurt my hand when hitting you. Let's meet so WE can figure out a way for me to stop punching you in the face," or "let's come up with a way that I can begin to start seeing you as human." This once again will make us chase our tails in order to feel productive, and end up dizzy. Then another police shooting will happen, we will pretend we don't know what the problems are, and we will be doomed to keep repeating the cycle. In closing: 💡Police officers need to wake up. I don't think lower-ranking officers knew of this scheme at all. They were collateral damage. What police forget, is that they are working class just like everyone else in this country. The powers that be see them as expendable. Maintaining the status quo is more important to them than a few cops lives. Now, we're all caught up in playing the game they want us to play....once again! My heart goes out to the families of the officers that were murdered. And...I don't know where Michah X Johnson really is, or how he really died, but this certainly isn't the first time America has staged a tragedy to push a political agenda. Y'all can eat the bullshit they feed you, but not me. "All the world's a stage" William Shakespeare #StayWoke #StayTheCourse #BlackLivesMatter

[nathanjamespoet]

When you see the person your ex is now going out with

[nathanjamespoet]

[nathanjamespoet]

6 Startling Things About Sex Farms During Slavery That You May Not Know

The fertility of enslaved women was examined by owners to make sure they were able to birth as many children as possible. Secretly, slave owners would impregnate enslaved women and when the child was born and grew to an age where he could work on the fields, they would take the “very same children (of their) own blood and make slaves out of them,” as pointed out in the National Humanities Center Resource Toolbox on Slaveholders’ Sexual Abuse of Slaves.

It was common for the slave to be subordinated sexually to the master–even men with enslaved males. It was part of the enslaved man’s function as an “animated tool,” an instrument of pleasure.

When enslaved males turned 15 years old–and younger in some cases–they had their first inspection. Boys who were under-developed, had their testicles castrated and sent to the market or used on the farm. Each enslaved male was expected to get 12 females pregnant a year. The men were used for breeding for five years. One enslaved man name Burt produced more than 200 offspring, according to the Slave Narratives.

To combat the high rate of death among the enslaved, plantation owners demanded females start having children at 13. By 20, the enslaved women would be expected to have four or five children. As an inducement, plantation owners promised freedom for enslaved female once she bore 15 children, according to Slavery in the United States by John Simkin.

If the enslaved woman was considered “pretty,” she would be bought by plantation owner and given special treatment in the house, but often subjected to horrifying cruelty by the master’s wife, including the beheading of a child because he was the product of a enslaved-master affair.

Often, the plantation owner would entertain his friends by forcing the enslaved Blacks to have orgies–multiple pairings having sex in front of them. And the white men often would participate in the debauchery. 

SOURCE

People often forget to examine and discuss the sexual exploitative nature of slavery and how it was “necessary” to ensure the survival of the slave system. It’s sooooo sick! My soul is disturbed. We are a resilient people but damnit if our history isn’t one of terror and unimaginable evil. God bless and comfort my ancestors! Smh. #Hate it!

[nathanjamespoet]

You can find racism EVERYWHERE, not just places like #Ferguson. It just more sophisticated here.

[nathanjamespoet]

Mood

[nathanjamespoet]

Lol

[nathanjamespoet]

I was interviewed by the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS during the Millions March in NYC and I had some choice words to say to the sleep walkers. Finally found the video and decided to post it. If you're seeing this on Instagram...the link is available to click on in my bio. Here's the link: http://youtu.be/xaBCRYItBoM #BlackLivesMatter #NoJusticeNoPeace #NewYorkDailyNews (at New York)

[nathanjamespoet]

TODAY!!!! Washington Square Park #MillionsMarchNyc #BlackLivesMatter (at Spring Street, Soho, NYC)

[nathanjamespoet]

A question about rape: Why is it, when men speaks out about a rape from a powerful man years after it happened, most people are sympathetic to the victims and thinks that man should burn hell? They also understand why it took them so long to speak up. But When women speak out years later about being raped by a powerful man, then all of a sudden we start to question their integrity, credibility, and of course their sexual history? I haven't said much about Bill Cosby. What I will say is this: Too many people are acting like they KNOW who #BillCosby is and what he's capable of merely from watching the Cosby show and pudding pop commercials. But Bill Cosby is not "Heathcliff Huxtable". That was a character on a show. As an actor who meets many people in this industry, you would be surprised at how many people you LOVE on television are complete and total scumbags in real life. Was he a great comedian? Yes. Did I love that show? Yes. Did "A Different World" make me want to go to college? Yes. Did he put a lot of black people through college? Yes. Is he a rapist??? YES!!! Just because you don't want to let go of a part of your childhood, doesn't mean reality isn't happening. 15 women, or more, aren't lying. Maybe 3 of them are (opportunists are real), but at least 12 of them aren't. If someone gets that many rape allegations, and settles out of court for countless more, and we STILL doubt that they're a rapist...we are preventing women from feeling the freedom to try and fight rape from powerful men in the future. Is there an attack on black men in the media in order to make the country as a whole feel like the shootings of black men are justified??? ABSOLUTELY! But we must know when to play that hand. It waters down our movement when we protect the wolves among us. OUR PRESIDENT is being attacked. Bill Cosby is being EXPOSED.

[nathanjamespoet]

Everybody wants to be black...until it's time to "be" black. #BlackLivesMatter #JusticeForMikeBrown #Ferguson (at Inwood – 207th Street)

[nathanjamespoet]

#BeyondTheLights: The best black love story of this generation Two months ago I had the pleasure of attending a sneak peak of "Beyond the Lights" by Gina Prince-bythewood (creator of Love and Basketball and the Secret Life of bees), starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle) and Nate Parker (The Great Debaters). This movie made me feel like I had finally found an oasis after walking through a dessert (I'm not embellishing). Mbatha-raw transformed back and forth between an empty-vessel pop culture superstar, and a young mixed girl from the UK who just wanted to sing her songs. Nate Parker's gravitas as an actor is palpable, and has finally planted his flag as one of Hollywoods leading men. Most of all, it was great to see a love story between a black man and a black woman where he wasn't beating her, secretly sleeping with her best friend, selling drugs, on the "down low", or any of the other stigmas that plague black characters in cinema. He also wasn't "too good". The quintessential MBA black man, who is perfect in every way, to the point where his "corniness" bores you to tears (and ultimately leads her to leave him and find the "excitement" she's looking). In this movie, both black men and women are allowed to be human. Layered individuals with good morals, who don't always make the right decisions. It's a crime that this movie almost never saw the light of day because of Prince-Bythewood's struggle to push this script to Hollywood executives, who did not want Nate Parker, and tried to push her to make it a love story between a black women and a white man (see the article: "The Young Black Romance Everyone said no to, finally see the light" - http://www.buzzfeed.com/kelleylcarter/the-young-black-romance-movie-everyone-said-no-to-finally-se ). I am personally proud that Gina Prince-Bythewood fought through this resistance, and brought us yet another film that sets the standard for a new generation, and breaks the mold of reality television and the low-fat dietary love stories that we've been plied with. Read more on my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nathan-James/8806949676 @beyondthelightsmovie @gpbmadeit @origi_nate (at UrbanWorld Film Festival AMC Theater)

[nathanjamespoet]

It is such an honor that The Pittsburgh Public School system has given me a shout out for my 2014 AUDELCO nomination for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR for my role in MAID'S DOOR at The Billie Holiday Theater. For those who don't know, it is the equivalent to a Tony award for Black Theater in New York. You can find more information at: www.audelco.net #Gratitude

[nathanjamespoet]

Fire #ToddHaley now!!!! #Steelers #SteelerNation #Pittsburgh