The Hip Hop Anthropologist

The bane of my existence is Black folks who want to play by rules that were not either meant or written for them because they have personally benefited by their duplicity, not because they hold deeply held convictions about ethics, morality, the rule of law, or fair play. Working in Corporate Anywhere is a disputation of one's own values. Rationalizing it by saying, it is not how I act in my personal life is further evidence of this caustic erosion. So bragging rights because you may never have been arrested, seen the inside of a police car, station or court is meaningless if you approved the denial of a meritorious health claim, auto loan or mortgage, occupational licensure, rent application, job, admissions or financial aid application because "those are the rules." Congratulations. You played yourself. And you are an active participant in the oppression of your own people; your moral relativity is not merely hypocritical but a betrayal of universal laws—norms and mores...

 While we're rightfully bemoaning tRump's triumphant reemergence as the first convicted criminal to become president, we have not seriously considered its lasting ramifications. The primary one is what happens when all of the lapdogs in the Executive and Legislature have to confront an unhinged, unmoored, and unrestrained tRump defying a Supreme Court order attempting to reign him... The very same Supreme Court that has granted conservatives a veritable wish list, a unilateral wet dream, of regressive decisions rolling back decades of precedent, losing its own identity in the process, along with any modicum of respect as a consequence. Don't think it could happen? I say 'when' not 'if' it happens, what will the country looks like after the final Grand Oaf Party controlled bulwarks fail🙄I guarantee MAGA will immediate repeal all of the Civil Rights Acts, the Social Security Act, AFDC, ACA, and then start dismantling the Reconstruction - i.e., 13th, 14th, and...

A cultural shift has begun in this country with respect to criminal justice policy generally and policing particularly as Ferguson Police Department has become the latest poster child in a long awaited campaign to out rogue law enforcement agencies for unfair extra-judicial processes and procedures that have had catastrophic consequences for those persons of color unfortunate enough to get caught up in “the system.” Unwarranted [pun intended] police contact is a dark portal through which many unwary, law abiding Blacks enter into a hostile, racist and patently unfair criminal justice system. To those brothas and, to a lesser degree, sistas suffering the indignity of false arrest is not the end but very often beginning of an insult that always has unforeseen collateral consequences. Those overcharged for minor often non-criminal offenses, like misdemeanor traffic infractions, possession of small amounts of marijuana, or other “quality of life” violations, these “criminal justice” ...