Deion Sanders and Our Messiah Fixation

 

The plague and persistence of oppression within Black communities have made it convenient and consistent for us to perceive the need for salvation and a savior, thus, a preoccupation on a messiah. Throughout our sojourn on this continent, we have witnessed the rise and fall of many. Some have been self-appointed and some community anointed, but all serving our fixation and a few fighting for our liberation. Through educational, religious, judicial, or political institutions, the goals have been deliverance from the progenies of white supremacy into the promised land of peaceful coexistence. For example, during slavery, Nat Turner’s slave revolt cast him as a revolutionary messiah who took up the yoke of Christ to fight against the serpent. Another form of salvation came from the emancipation proclamation (Proclamation 95), a presidential proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln (savior) that freed all enslaved people. Another example of salvation came from the savior Marcus Garvey for many, and his plan of salvation was Black nationalism, economic independence, and a return to the Motherland. What about our intellectual savior, W.E.B DuBois, and his gospel of the Talented Tenth? Or maybe, our pragmatic savior in Booker T. Washington and his messianic messages of self-help, hard work, and accumulation of material wealth. Or, it was seen in the savior, Reverend Dr. Martin L. King, and the legal activism of the Civil Rights Movement and an appeal to the oppressors’ morality as our salvation. Another example can be seen with savior Minister Malcolm X and Islam being our salvation. A final example is former President Barack Obama, who symbolically empowered and mesmerized many with his messianic message of hope. This list is abbreviated, but my point should be evident, and that is we (the Black community collective) have had our share of messiah-types, thus, rendering many within our communities to continue on the journey in search of a messiah to deliver us from the oppressive regime of white supremacy. 

 

Now we have the revolutionary athletic personality and icon, Coach Deion Sanders. His entry into college football began as Jackson State University’s (JSU) head football coach. Given the context and current configuration of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), his presence, although on a smaller scale relative to the aforementioned messianic leaders, was just as significant. His iconic and charismatic personality created an atmosphere of restoration and hope. The attention he garnered for JSU and HBCUs collectively, and specifically, the city of Jackson during a water contamination crisis was tactical in providing small-scale social change, where many people took notice, and some responded positively. Thus, his social capital and persona were a momentary saving grace to dire conditions that often erupt in neglected communities and Black institutions suffering from political deprivation.

 

Though he does not have the pedigree of an HBCU, he is a product of a Black community, which makes him eligible with some credentials to function in this space. More importantly, he had a word from God that ordained his presence at JSU. This ordination carries a lot of weight in a community that values God’s word and the sanctity of the ones sent by Him. Couple this charge from the Almighty with two years of unprecedented success (i.e., two consecutive SWAC championships), I believe, placed Sanders in an exalted position. With this position comes enormous pressure to deliver and bring deliverance. It harnesses tremendous praise and adoration when successful, but woe be unto him who does not deliver and fails to bring deliverance; or decides to alter the plan of God for personal gain. Clearly, I am strictly speaking from the religious fervor surrounding those with a messiah complex and those who have a fixation on needing a messiah.

 

Did Coach Sanders hear from God? He could have. But which God? Could God have given him a new assignment – to go to Colorado? Sure. I would never put myself in a position to judge whether a person is divinely orchestrated to fulfill a specific task unless it is a total contradiction to the nature of love and life. Therefore, I have no problem with Coach Sander's “new” assignment leading the University of Colorado Buffaloes. It reaffirms for me how our messiah fixation causes many to harbor anger, display disappointment, and vent hostile criticism and a human being making a human decision. It exposes our misplaced fears and displaced faith. So, release Primetime from your negative criticism and let him expand his coaching brand and experience. Perhaps he will be better able to deliver and bring deliverance to some without having to deal with misgivings and displaced frustrations. Regardless, let us continue to be critical of self-appointed messianic figures at all levels. Let us be critical when our collective desires within Black communities or others external to our communities (white nationalist ideological state apparatuses, e.g., media, education, education) create these figures to distract us from genuinely developing the revolutionary consciousness necessary for our evolution and the evolution of our institutions. Also, let us either realize that charismatic leaders/savior types come and go or let us face the fact that the true saviors are ourselves. Our collective consciousness should be clear that we are the messiahs we have been looking for, hoping in, and praying to for our deliverance. 

Name, Image, and Likeness Legislation: Progress Toward Emancipation in College Athletics for Some Black Athletes

Emancipation Proclamation has not been fully realized and actualized for the Blacks collectively. Yes, there has been the abolishment of the institution of slavery, but equal and equitable access to the American Dream has not been the collective lived experience of the descendants of enslaved Africans on U.S. soil. There have been strives made toward racial progress, where some semblance of equity and equality have been experienced by a small percentage of Blacks in the U.S. The combination of hard work, education, legislation, and persistence has afforded opportunities to some, but the collective Black population has yet to be fully emancipated from a system of white supremacy that consistently views it as inferior, a political nuisance, and an exploitable cog in a system of capitalism. 

Various institutions in the U.S. have accumulated wealth at the expense of the Black body. For example, E. N. Elliott, an advocate for slavery, in Cotton Is King, makes an interesting, although inaccurate comment regarding the status of slaves and their labor. He states that, “The person of the slave is not property, no matter what the fictions of the law may say; but the right to his labor is property and may be transferred like any other property.” It is inaccurate because the enslaved were both property and their labor were property. Therefore, the benefit of slavery was at least twofold: profitable to the slave trader and the plantation owner, who often was the same person. This two-fold gain of slavery created a multi-billion dollar wealth transfer that many corporations, universities, and other institutions are reaping benefits in the 21^st century.

In my use of the plantation analogy, I see this comment as an accurate assessment of the modern-day Black athlete competing in revenue-generating intercollegiate sports before the name, image, and likeness (NIL) legislation. They are not necessarily the property of the institutions they compete at, but their athletic labor is the property and profitable to the university, and up until now, their name, image, and likeness were properties of the university and profitable to these institutions. To speak more clearly, it is the athletic labor of Black males in football and basketball that undergird a multi-billion dollar industry. They make up the highest percentage of starters that compete the majority of minutes during these ultra-commercialized events. Corporations compete financially to have their products interwoven within this athletic product. The monetization of an athlete’s NIL has been a part of this wealth transfer where athletes did not own the rights to the athletic product their athletic labor produced, nor could they profit from the use of their NIL.

            Well, as of July 1, 2021, there has been progress toward emancipation where athletes have finally been given the rights to profit from their NIL. This move accelerated after several states passed some form of NIL legislation, which forced the National Collegiate Athletic Association to relinquish its economic stronghold over athletes, especially those in revenue-generating sports. Therefore, companies and corporations can now have individual athletes endorse their products. In the coming months, there will be growing pains to this new economic arrangement. Some athletes will be able to convert their athletic capital into lucrative opportunities, while others may not have the same advantages. Regardless, returning athletes’ rights to their NIL to the athlete is progress toward athletic emancipation. It moves out of 17^th and 18th-century labor practices into a century where labor practices are not ideal but more palatable.

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I Am Beyond “THE DIALOGUE ON RACE"

I am beyond the dialogue on race,

Another knee on my neck, 

more tear-gas in my face?

I’m in the streets now,

Marching, protesting, rioting,

burning down your symbols of death, 

tearing down your generals of hate.

It’s a bit too late, too much hate, and too much rage in me; 

 Just can’t see how.

 

I am beyond the dialogue on race,

Must I plead another case?

Flee while being chased

I’m beyond the dialogue.

Giving you another chance to monologue; 

Can’t take another sympathetic prologue;

Definitely not another protracted epilogue.

 

I am beyond the dialogue on race,

Besides, WTF is there to talk about anyway at this stage?

You know what the problem is, 

YOU even know the answer, 

YOU know what to say,

YOU know why I have so much rage.

The only thing I care to hear is the economic reparations, compensation for the exploitation –

For 246 years of unpaid labor during enslavement;

Over 90 years in a system of sharecropping.

 

Can we talk?

Do you really really, like for real, want to end institutional systems of oppression?

Do you really have the spirit of the slave abolitionist to undo yourselves from yourselves and your privilege?

 

If not, I’m beyond the dialogue on race,

Too late for the Blah di Blah Blah! 

I’m done.

Di Blah, Blah! 

      Crispy

Di Blah, Blah! 

I’m Out!

 

 

My Muse

I think “we,” a particular population of Black people, are in a different space than most non-Black people on the topic of race and racial injustices. I am not claiming this to be the consensus, but I am confident that with the recent occurrences of white-on-Black murders, dialogues are a bit too late, or should I say, a bit too passé. Since our sojourn in this country, we have been on-and-off in this discussion phase: pleading our case for freedom, for equity, for equality, for Civil Rights, for human rights, for breath, for life, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, having discussions about antiracism, diversity, and inclusion are helpful and necessary on some levels and for some groups. But, for me, I am beyond the dialogue on race – the conversation. Besides, what exactly is there to discuss further? We are being terrorized, choked, and gunned down on camera – by white supremacists with badges. Aren’t the protests, vandalism, the defamation of statues and symbols representing hate evidence enough to inform you that we are tired of talking about race. Why is it that every time a tragedy like George Floyd occurs, it sparks non-black people to want to have a dialogue on race? You suddenly feel moved to have a national debate on race, now that another white supremacist exposes his infection. What has the previous dialoguing produced? A few token concessions, cosmetic changes in the name of diversity and inclusion, or some amusements in the form of titles, programs, or holidays to quiet the masses. Has there been actual progress in disrupting and disbanding the power of white supremacy? No more dialogue is needed; just a diagnosis and a prescription – virus of white supremacy is the diagnosis, remove it by any means necessary is the prescription.

How long will this nation continue this pattern of watching black people die or tolerating other social injustices?  How long will we get to the point where these injustices provoke anger and protest, sometimes riotously levels, and then, those in positions of power and influence decide it is time to have a dialogue on race or social injustices?

Listen, regarding the diagnosis, I am thoroughly convinced that in the case of racism, non-black people, white people specifically, know who and “where” the racist are; in any given context or space: in corporations, in educational institutions, or their subdivisions. They know which neighbor, friend, or family member is infected with the hate virus, which associate or partner is under the spell and delusion of white supremacy. You have been in conversations with them. They have been at your potlucks, dinner parties, and you shared a room with them at conferences or when you were on vacation. Sadly enough, most non-Black people know a Derek Chauvin, and most Black people know this about you. Thus, if we must begin a dialogue, although I am beyond “the dialogue,” let us start with you revealing the white supremacists among you and the infection within you. While I have your attention, let me insert the uncomfortable question into the conversation. Do you know what it means to be white and growing up in a time and “country” designed specifically for you? The world is your oyster is indeed an accurate description of what outsiders see of you. To add to this oyster experience, this privilege or racial endowment is ingrained in the psyche of non-black people and institutionalized in various ways of life; therefore, it has been perpetual for hundreds of years. Some have coined it whiteness, white privilege, etc., but to me, it is a virus or infectious disease that has contaminated millions from birth. Finally, may the spirit of abolitionism possess you into real protest and action to destroy white supremacy.

Billy Hawkins, Ph.D.

 

Anti-White Supremacy Agenda

A Call for an Anti-White Supremacy Agenda 

    The frustration and horror for me, as I watch the killing of George Floyd, is watching Derek Chauvin. His faceless expression, which expressed a blatant disregard for human life, and more specifically, Black life. There was a coldness or detachment in that faceless expression, which ignored Floyd’s plea that he could not breathe. This pleading for breath, for his life, reminded me of Eric Garner’s untimely death. Again, here was this white male, Chauvin, and those around him, who took a vow to serve and protect, yet with total detachment, dishonoring that vow and seem to be functioning from a historic creed where Black men ended up brutally murdered: burned alive, hung, or victims of another method of lynching. Numerous questions flowed through my mind after watching the wasting away of this Black man, and Chauvin’s dispassionate expression. Unlike the historic lynchings of Black men and women that were witnessed by a few onlookers, this time millions of global viewers witnessed Floyd’s plea for his life; like thousands before him did. 

    For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, I wondered what was going on in Chauvin’s minds during those fading minutes of Floyd’s life? Did he harbor personal anger and hatred towards Floyd, Black men, and Black people? Angry at the Black body’s resilience throughout time, thus hated its existence; its modern-day capabilities and potentialities? At what point did his anger and hatred become radicalized or weaponized? Did he wake up every day prior to this tragedy waiting on the opportunity to express his loyalty to this anger and hatred? Or, did he just wake up that day, May 25, 2020, motivated to cause harm against a Black life – to kill a Black man or women; looking for the opportunity to exploit his power as an officer of the law and, most importantly, exploiting his power and privilege as a white male over a Black life? How long did he harbor these feelings of anger and hatred? Was this his grand opportunity to express his supremacy – white supremacy – over a big Black man? In expressing his supremacy – white supremacy – was Floyd’s death his reward; his validation; the final test of his loyalty? Was this a childhood burden he carried until May 25, 2020? Was he jealous of George Floyd for some reason; despising this Black body?

    Questions continue to flow through my mind while trying to make sense of this senseless act. Trying to understand this moment requires placing it within the context of a long history of Black lives not mattering. White supremacy is built on this notion of Black lives not mattering. The reoccurring terrorism that has plagued Black lives in this country sustains this lie of supremacy. Thus, I believe the root cause of many global injustices (see diagram) originates from imperialism, which has manifested itself in the form of colonization, and more specifically white supremacy. White supremacy has utilized various methods to maintain its existence (second layer outward), which produces many forms of social injustices (outer layer). Many social justice scholars and other activists have approached the methods or symptoms of white supremacy in hopes of dismantling the root cause, and rightfully so. Their efforts seek to bring about social justice; more specifically, emancipatory justice. Emancipatory justice requires a multi-level approach in efforts to excavate and depose of the root cause of social injustices. It begins with developing and promoting an anti-white supremacy agenda: exposing the lie, dethroning its authority, deconstructing its ideologies, and interrogating its existence.

    Since white supremacy is the root cause of many global social inequalities, developing an anti-white supremacy agenda is fundamental. Having an anti-white supremacy agenda ultimately begins with the following steps. However, they are extreme measures and necessary if we desire to be totally emancipated from this disease:

1. To make “America” great again or transition to greatness requires giving it back to its original owners – the handful of indigenous people who have survived the genocidal exploits of white supremacy. 
2. Reparation for all formerly enslaved people. This includes not only governmental reparations, but reparations from corporations, institutions of higher education, religious institutions, etc., that benefitted from the slave-kidnapping and selling of enslaved Africans, and the billions of dollars generated by enslaved labor.

    The pragmatism and likelihood of the first two steps hinge on revolutionary measures; step one will require extreme revolutionary measures. Step two is possible but only with revolutionary legislation, as a result of a shift in political ideology. If the first steps cannot be accomplished, other steps include addressing how the second layer of the diagram can be altered, to facilitate an anti-white supremacy agenda. This layer consists of mechanisms that assist with the implementation and institutionalization of white supremacy. For example, regarding the police state, reform is needed. For many Blacks, due to our interactions with the police and our ultimate relationship with this country, we have inherited the perception that the U.S. is a police state. We feel our movements, freedoms, rights, are monitored, limited, and at times restricted. Because of our Black bodies, specifically, there has been and continues to be an over-policing of our existence mainly by white officers and especially in white spaces; recent examples include George Floyd and Eric Garner. 

    On a more global scale, we must be mindful of how the white supremacist military regime has been and continues to be used against nations of brown and black-skinned people, with the goals of controlling and exploiting the natural resources of these countries. Police brutality is simply an extension of militaristic behavior exerted throughout the world in the name of white supremacy.

    Laws that address the outer layer of the diagram must continue to be created and strictly enforced. This is generally where most of our focus has been – on the manifestations of white supremacy. Thus, we have been addressing the symptoms, but not necessarily the root cause of the illness. This isn’t an indictment, but an observation. These efforts have provided some temporary relief. For example, women's rights movements, Civil Rights movements, human rights movements, etc. have advanced the rights for various marginalized groups. They have increased access and opportunities through the creation and enforcement of laws that have worked to reduce sexism, racism, classism, and other expressions of prejudices and discrimination. Therefore, we must continually work on this layer, with the goal of abolishing the core.

    All mechanisms used to sustain white supremacy and all manifestation of white supremacy cannot escape intense scrutiny. The educational system that institutionalizes inequalities and disseminates propaganda that reproduces social inequalities must be reformed. The persistence of cultural hegemony, where the myth of Americanism and democracy are euphemisms for white supremacy, must be demolished to give way to a more inclusive ethos. The ways in which religion, more specifically, European Christianity, have been pervasive in undergirding white supremacist expansion will require continual interrogation. Also, continual reproductions of scientific racism that discriminate, deny treatment and perpetuate health disparities, especially evident during the COVID 19 pandemic, have to persistently be exposed.

    Ultimately, the steps or measures employed to eradicate white supremacy are most effective when market disruption is part of the process or an outcome of the process. In capitalist societies, market disruption gets the attention of the corporate elite and politicians; thus, encouraging them to act because of their economic interests, and basically their fear of economic loss. History has proven that the threat to economic gain, prompts capitalist elite and politicians to seek concessions that appease the participants who are imposing the threats. Interest convergence has typically been the political practice used to re-stabilize markets and restores social equilibrium. Thus, if we are willing to reap the fruits of a post-white supremacy world, we must endure the tilling of the soil and the disruption of our comfort zones. 

Diagram – The Global Diffusion of White Supremacy