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Nick Cannon and "The Nonsense"

A couple of days ago, comedic actor and frequent talent show host Nick Cannon (formerly Amerca's Got Talent, now The Masked Singer) was apparently fired from his production deal with major entertainment studio Viacom-CBS, the reason being for criticism leveled at him for a filmed podcast, "Nick Cannon's Class".  Cannon has been featuring this podcast on YouTube for the last several years as he has pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

The podcast episode that went viral in all the wrong ways featured Public Enemy band member Professor Griff.  In the episode the pair discuss a range of topics including provocative assertions about the anthropological origins of Europeans/Caucasians, white supremacy, "the original Hebrews" and related topics that eventually zeroed in on certain conspiracy theories.  Stuff that might be shared at the barbershop, beauty salon, in the living room or backyard playing spades, etc., but the deliberate choice to film and upload to a social media site forced a corporate reckoning for Cannon.

As of this writing Cannon is threatening a lawsuit to keep the branding of shows he created like Wildin' Out.  When it came to the news of Cannon's firing, cohorts of Black America-- more specifically, those who have certain distinct views that "one" ethno-cultural cohort is the dominant voice in the entertainment/news-media industry-- were outraged.  How could "they" be upset since he (purportedly) has "them" as some of his business partners and colleagues?  The nerve...  all for a Black man "speaking truth".... Whoo-boy.  A lot to unpack, here.

I like Nick and I wish him well in reacquiring his intellectual property— also big ups for earning the degree at Howard— but he was better off talking about sports or sharing vegetarian recipes. As far as what was “discussed”: (sigh). There are plenty of books whose contents are wholly ruinous in their content. “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” (and all the dozens of nonsense spinoffs since 100 years ago) is not where it’s at, fam, I don’t care how ‘woke’ somebody says they are. 

It’s fair to have a different view about justice in the Palestine - Israel conflict.  (That sliver of the world is also much more multicultural than typically thought of.)  It’s correct to assert that there are ethnic cohorts not tied to Europe (e.g., Africa, western Asia) who have Judaism as their faith heritage going back generations. Put another way, there are plenty of Jews of color out there: not everybody looks like Jerry Seinfeld or Chelsea Handler.  But then to take it further, recycling tropes about the Rothchilds and the like— Even if every Rothchild and in-law were to be bumped off (and I am well aware that Nick didn’t say that, good peeps), the historical approaches to major banking policies and imbalanced interaction with the developing world (‘the Global South’) would remain. 

Further, the related trending assertion made by 90s rapper Lord Jamar from Brand Nubian and assorted black men across the country that Black Lives Matter is not authentic, there is actually nothing factual about his allegations. Many, if not all of the allegations that get made, are loosely, even directly lifted from hardcore right-wing websites like Breitbart and even outright white supremacy adjacent sites.

Certain folks will complain all day about “the white media wants there to be one leader” but when it comes to activism groups like the very regional BLM, and so far no “singular leader” has been identified, all of a sudden that is the reason for skepticism in these folks’ eyes.

George Soros and Bill Gates, whatever their billionaires-are-problematic context may be, and the white privilege that allowed them to get to their current economic perch, are convenient strawmen arguments as “super anonymous but not really” alleged funders to various black-based social activism. All for the purpose of, allegedly, compelling black men and women to embrace interracial gay marriage, so they can be “ideal” candidates for cushy country clubs (the ownership of which historically just absolutely LOVES that demographic of interracial gay couples, of course)

“check Google” isn’t good enough. Not remotely. Where’s the real receipts, if you’ve got the inside dope. And as clever as people can be nowadays with graphic design, I’m casting a skeptical eye on any supposed “receipts” somebody can automatically find by saying “Hey Alexa…”

Hotep logic’ galls me severely.  Being 'pro-black' or 'Afrocentric' is not the offense.  Being deeply uninformed, egocentric and toxic in the facilitation of being 'pro-black' is.  Armchair revolutionaries are quick to point out how idiotic everybody else is, but they fall short of being able to articulate what the “right” strategies should be, and stop way short of stepping up themselves. If electoral politics aren’t where it’s at when it comes to the social advancement of Black Americans, present your alternative. Is it purely education and tradesman work while leaving "civil rights activism" alone? You could make the argument that Booker T. Washington and his efforts at the Tuskegee University largely promoted this ideology.  If so, what format? Dissolve public schools altogether? Home school?  If so, which parent(s) are staying at home, what are the recommended ‘work from home’ businesses that people should segue into?

Is it crime?  No, I'm not kidding.  If so, what racket? Cannabis is already being legalized at the state level in various states, so it’s not as easy to be all about that contraband hustle. And for all the elaborate coke, heroin and meth smuggling/distribution schemes some folks come up with, the legal hammer (and the gun hammer) comes down hardest on the black and brown who try to come up in that world.

Castigate people all day for being Christians. Critiquing the iconography of “white Jesus” is valid and all the genocides and slavery connected to it. But not everyone is joining the Nation of Islam. Not everyone is joining the Black Hebrew Israelites. Not everyone is joining the Moorish Movement or “Sovereign Citizens”. Not everybody is going to be a “There are no gods” ‘Freethinker’.

For those black folk who are inclined for spirituality they’re going to seek out an outlet. Anybody who wants to legitimately build a movement is going to have to learn how to navigate this demographic without constantly resorting to calling people sheep—while at the same time hoping that they follow YOUR lead.

You can’t constantly flamethrow on your community for being ‘dimwits’ ‘weak minded’, ‘slave mentality’, ‘buck dancing n_groes’, ‘Uncle Tom’ ‘’Aunt Jemima’, ‘c00ns’, but still insist that you know the better way and the most righteous path. It’s not good enough to rely on nitwit notions on “the black race is cursed” because of some super-obscure world-conquering cult (the Illuminati) who conveniently have ‘secret-but-public’ avatars like Will Smith and Quincy Jones who pledge their first-borns and seal the deal with naked wrestling in dungeons built in pre-colonial times? And supposedly the only black celebrity who manages to avoid all of this BS is Katt Williams, of all people? Is he still getting into street fights with teenagers?

Why the hell is it just black rap and R&B artists who get all of these Illuminati videos, anyway? Where’s the know it all expose on a bunch of country music performers, a bunch of alternative rock singers, a bunch of classic rock bands?

Stop alternately fetishizing and excoriating what (white) Jewish people do (or don’t do). (With admiration: “They’re unified! They’re organized!” With disgust: “They’re unified! They’re organized!”) But American Jewish folks aren’t any more monolithic than you will fight someone to the death explaining how black people aren’t, either. There’s folk among them who are devoutly religious (whether Reform, Orthodox, Conservative, etc.) and there are those who are devoutly secular and every shade in between, let alone the political alignments of right, left, center and nothing. Seriously. If Jeffrey Epstein’s last name was ‘Jackson’ or ‘Johnson’, I don’t think half the people out there would be super-triggered even with all of the heinous stuff that he was apparently responsible for. The attacks on Jewish folk in Jersey City, New Jersey and Monsey, New York in late 2019 both had Black perpetrators who apparently entertained some really warped outlooks.  In both cases, mental illness may well have played a role in their malevolence.  Despite this, I feel safe enough to speculate that there are not cabals of Black "supremacists" plotting to lay siege to synagogues like there were Ku Klux Klan members plotting to dynamite churches, historically.  But just like Dylann Roof in 2015, all it takes is one off-kilter person to really wreak havoc in people's lives.  Over nonsense.  Low-key co-signing on stereotypes doesn't make them go away.

“Black people shouldn’t be Democrats because they started the KKK...” Here we go. 2020 is not 1870. Anybody who does a fair assessment of history in the past 170 years should know that black people have gradually asserted their will in both of the currently existing major political parties. Going back to 1870, some political parties don’t even exist anymore. People can always go independent, no doubt. But of course, depending on whether you want to run for local, state, or national office, the hurdles for fundraising are obscene. That is the structure that mainly needs changing. Meanwhile, people from “one” political party are hellbent on voiding votes in black neighborhoods.

If the greater point is that black people writ large should be forming their own political party, so be it. It’s actually a great idea. People who are passionate enough about this, especially in the social media era, have no excuse. Build the relationships. Build the platform. Strategize how to fund it. You’re better off trying things out locally before trying to launch a statewide or national candidate. Look at county commissions. City and town councils. School boards. It’s what the right-wing did, including the right-wing Jerry Falwell – Pat Robertson – Pat Buchanon – Newt Gingrich - Mitch McConnell crew.

This activism movement, from various specific groups and loose coalitions, is going to continue, and it goes well beyond the standards of aging male Five Percenters who swear by every random “Clinton Mafia” clickbait article and who can’t stand that it’s not exclusively them in charge but supposedly have “better things to do” when it comes to inquiries about their own participation. If you’re busy “building family”, so what? People in the 70s, 60s, 50s, 40s, 30s and further back were building their families, too, and they still managed to get involved in different capacities. Not everybody has an interest in being a front line marcher. Doesn’t mean they can’t contribute, or that the movement is void because it doesn’t fit somebody’s super-narrow “ankh-right” ideology.

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