Make your choice How Movements Are Born
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Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
Nelson King, Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson
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Caribbean L 12 ife, JUNE 11-17, 2021
By John Burl Smith
Back in 1967, as a white
gas station attendant put gas
in my 1962 VW, he hid my
gas cap in his shirt, told me
I didn’t have one and tried
to sell me my gas cap. That
incident became known as
the “gas cap incident” in
the black power movement
in Memphis. I had recently
returned to Memphis, after
my discharge from the Air
Force. Having survived a tour
in Vietnam, I was a proud
American, and convinced I
had earned the same rights
as white people and could
use the law to defend those
rights. As such, I called the
police on the thief. Rather
than the thief going to jail,
I was arrested and the white
thief walked away laughing.
Hence, I have spent the last
60 plus years of my life fighting
for human rights for all
people. Making my stand, I
helped organize the “Invaders,”
a black power group
that was instrumental, helping
the Memphis sanitation
workers win their strike
in 1968. A major result of
becoming a black power
activist, I became one of the
last two people to meet with
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in
a strategy meeting, less than
an hour before he was assassinated
(4/41968).
I bring these facts up
because of the controversy
the World Tennis Association
created with its ham-handed
and punitive retribution
against Naomi Osaka. Without
speaking to her and only
reading press reports, I know
Naomi O never thought her
decision to protect herself
mentally would make her
the mother of a movement.
Consequently, her stand is
the point of my introduction.
Back in 1968, I was not trying
to become a black power
activist, in fact, I was opposed
to black power, so I was thinking
only about what was happening
to me at the time.
Commensurately, I am
convinced Naomi O was simply
thinking about how to
heal herself. She probably
had no idea so many people
were suffering the same
oppression as she, but only
feeling trapped by a system
in which she had no control.
Again, I believe, in trying to
free herself, she gave voice to
so many desperate souls, suffering
in silence. That is how
movements are born, not by
hundreds or thousands, but
individuals, crying out in desperation,
because the world
refuses to respond to their
pain.
Although he did not survive
his desperate cry “I
can’t Breathe,” yet so many
struggling for breath heard
George Floyd’s forlorn appeal
and deathly cry. Again, even
though no one was able to ride
to his rescue, like “knights in
shining armor,” still millions
around the world rose up to
embrace his desperate plea.
During those lonely, desperate
9 minutes and 16 seconds,
I am sure, no thought
of starting a movement
entered his dark world, as
he called out for his mother.
But, a movement grew, as his
struggle and pleas were pregnant
with the budding gasp
for freedom that millions of
black men and women have
and still utter, trapped in the
same madness. Untold numbers
around the world today,
because of George Floyd’s
painful death, are nurturing
the orphan of his travails,
trying to keep hope alive.
Naomi O, in giving vent to
her frustrations, is the culmination
of a process centuries
in the making, which began
with the first descendant of
slavery to pick up a tennis
racket, and once the first
strolled onto a tennis court,
the die was casted for one day
this moment would arrive. I
look back at Althea Gibson,
hitting balls on the sidewalks
of Harlem in the 1950s, she
could only smile, and shrug
off the torment that rang
in her ears throughout her
career. But no tennis fan can
forget the debut of the Williams
sister—Venus and Serena—
who lit a fire of rages in
the hearts of descendants of
American slavery that burns
even today in the hearts
of millions, and burn even
brighter still, whenever they
walk onto the court.
Who can forget my most
salient moment of Serena’s
many stands against umpires’
lines call and a relentless
press gallery, digging at her,
trying to chip away at her
confidence. Standing like
granite at Indian Wells, during
the height of the women’s
movement, when none stood
with her, was Serena’s finest
hour. White tennis fans
tried to drive her from the
court with boos, while hoping
to kill her promotional
appeal, but this valiant devil
may-care, swashbuckling,
lone riding “woman,” stood
before the world, as no other,
endearing herself to fans—
black and white. A happy
mom today, Serena reigns
supreme, “Queen of her Royal
Court.”
My intent here is not only to
hail the birth of a movement,
but to shed a little light in the
dark corner of the American
sport industry, which continues
to pretend it is not drowning
in systemic racism perpetuated
by the Jerry Jones’
all white ownership world.
White owners—NFL, NBA,
MLB and others—collude to
keep Blacks out of ownership.
They use made-up fictitious
categories in order to discriminate
against descendants
of American slavery. The
latest example is the madeup
theory of “race-norming,”
which assumes Black players’
brains predisposes them to
dementia, which white are
not similarly subjected. The
practice assumes Black players
start with lower cognitive
skills, which makes it almost
impossible for Black players
to justify injury claims
and access awards from the
settlement fund. However,
when it benefits owners and
organizations, as with the
WTA press conference situation,
whites claim descendants
of slavery are the same
as white people and must be
treated as equals, and not
given an advantage. I see the
WTA, ostracizing Naomi O,
as the NFL has exiled Colin
Keapernick to Siberia, and
circled their wagons to prevent
Keapernick from ever
returning to the NFL. United
owners refuse to offer him
a job; collusion led by Jerry
Jones!!!! So presently I believe
the WTA is plotting to make
Naomi O the example of what
happens to an “angry Black
woman,” who dares to speak
out!!!
By Schnepsmedia
After rolling out
ranked-choice voting
in special elections
in Queens and
the Bronx earlier this
year, it will be used
across New York City
in the upcoming June
22 primary.
In fact, it has
already had an impact
on how candidates
have campaigned.
There have been fewer
negative attacks on
opposing candidates, as candidates
fear possibly alienating
another candidate’s voter base.
It has also forced people to
endorse not only their first
choices for an elected office but
also their second and sometimes
even third choices for
the seat. The nature of rankedchoice
voting has shifted how
campaigns operate.
The race for mayor, example,
is expected to be extremely
close — with no one candidate
probably winning more than
25 percent of the vote on the
first-choice ballot. The candidate
who can garner the most
second-choice votes may come
out on top.
It is a unique race just in
terms of how candidates are
having to vie for second-choice
votes as well as first-place
votes.
The reason ranked-choice
voting was implemented was
so that voters have more of a
voice in who is elected. Being
able to rank candidates allows
for voters to have more representation.
Voters can still just
vote for one candidate if they
choose to. This is also known
as a bullet ballot.
In the end, ranked-choice
voting is a win for voters. Think
of a normal election where a
candidate wins with, let us
say, 37 percent of the vote.
That leaves 63 percent of voters
unsatisfied.
Ranked-choice voting helps
remedy that issue, giving voters
more say which is always a
positive — and giving a majority
of New Yorkers representatives
they can call their own.
Regardless of how you vote
in the June 22 primary, if you
are eligible to participate in it,
please do so.
Voting is not a civic duty
exercised once every four years.
The local elections count just
as much as any presidential
election — and, in many
respects, are more impactful
on our daily lives.
We’re electing a new slate
of executives and representatives
who will be tasked with
leading the city’s post-COVID
recovery, along with tackling
all other issues we take for
granted — from public safety
to school curricula, from
rezoning to trash collection,
from road repair to public transit,
and everything in between.
Make your choice, and make
it count!
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