Commentary
LOOKING BACK: In 2018, “Living While Black” Stories Exploded on Social and Mainstream Media
NNPA NEWSWIRE — The national political environment has become contentious with President Trump’s relentless focus on vilifying and stereotyping minorities, particularly Mexican immigrants, while at the same time failing to quickly and affirmatively denounce racism and xenophobia.
By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor
Whether it was sitting at a Starbucks in Philadelphia, sleeping at college or simply walking to one’s apartment in one’s own building, a major social media trend emerged in 2018. That trend was: Documenting bias and micro-aggressions that would later be featured in mainstream media.
Much of what was documented was recording by the object so many have with them 24/7: Their cell phone. The wave of incidents documented was not new — but the media attention on such stories along with the responses that have followed signals a cultural shift that’s likely to last for years to come.
There were multiple incidents. Below are six that made headlines and garnered widespread media attention:
- In April in Oakland, California, Michelle Snider posted a YouTube video of Jennifer Schulte calling the police on her and her husband Kenzie Smith. Schulte dialed 911 because she was upset they were BBQ’ing in a public park. The story quickly went viral and Schulte was tagged as “BBQ Betty.”
- In May in Connecticut, Sarah Braasch called the police on Yale graduate student Lolade Siyonbola. The problem? after she fell asleep in a common room in her dorm. When police arrived, Siyonbola ran the conversation live on her Facebook Live.
- In May in Philadelphia, two men, Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson, were arrested at a Starbucks after an employee called the cops on them as they waited for a business meeting to begin. The multi-billion-dollar coffee chain would later close all of its stores to conduct training for all their employees regarding racial bias.
- In August in Madison, Wisconsin, Shelia Stubbs, who is the only African-American on the 37-member Dane County Board of Supervisors, was campaigning in her district when someone called the police.
- In December in New Jersey, Andrew Johnson, a Black high school wrestler, was compelled to have an impromptu pre-match haircut after a referee with a racist incident in his past decided Johnson’s hair violated the rules. The referee, Alan Maloney, was later fired.
- In late December, a security guard at a DoubleTree Hotel called the police on Jermaine Massey as he used a phone in a lobby. Two employees were fired because of the incident.
It was likely not coincidental that such incidents have spiked on social media and in mainstream news during the presidency of Donald Trump.
The national political environment has become contentious with President Trump’s relentless focus on vilifying and stereotyping minorities, particularly Mexican immigrants, while at the same time failing to quickly and affirmatively denounce racism and xenophobia.
Hate crimes along with a resurgence of white supremacist groups have been recorded by the Southern Poverty Law Center and other hate watchdog organizations. The incidents have highlighted the power of social media a few years after the birth of Black Lives Matter which also featured the power of social media content.
Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent journalist and writer for NNPA as well as a political analyst and strategist as Principal of Win Digital Media LLC. She may be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
Commentary
Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”
Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.
By Emil Guillermo
I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”
I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.
Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.
Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.
That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.
And it just doesn’t happen that often.
Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.
When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.
Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.
On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.
I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?
I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.
Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.
Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.
I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.
And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”
It was the night of the eclipse.
ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE
In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.
For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.
I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.
For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.
Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.
In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.
History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.
Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.
If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.
You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets
About the Author
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!
Commentary
Commentary: Republican Votes Are Threatening American Democracy
In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We needed to know the blunt truth. The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.
By Emil Guillermo
In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
We needed to know the blunt truth.
The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.
And to save it will require all hands on deck.
It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening.
That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.
No man is above the law? To the majority of his supporters, it seems Trump is.
It’s an anti-democracy loyalty that has spread like a political virus.
No matter what he does, Trump’s their guy. Trump received 51% of caucus-goers votes to beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who garnered 21.2%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who got 19.1%.
The Asian flash in the pan Vivek Ramaswamy finished way behind and dropped out. Perhaps to get in the VP line. Don’t count on it.
According to CNN’s entrance polls, when caucus-goers were asked if they were a part of the “MAGA movement,” nearly half — 46% — said yes. More revealing: “Do you think Biden legitimately won in 2020?”
Only 29% said “yes.”
That means an overwhelming 66% said “no,” thus showing the deep roots in Iowa of the “Big Lie,” the belief in a falsehood that Trump was a victim of election theft.
Even more revealing and posing a direct threat to our democracy was the question of whether Trump was fit for the presidency, even if convicted of a crime.
Sixty-five percent said “yes.”
Who says that about anyone of color indicted on 91 criminal felony counts?
Would a BIPOC executive found liable for business fraud in civil court be given a pass?
How about a BIPOC person found liable for sexual assault?
Iowans have debased the phrase, “no man is above the law.” It’s a mindset that would vote in an American dictatorship.
Compare Iowa with voters in Asia last weekend. Taiwan rejected threats from authoritarian Beijing and elected pro-democracy Taiwanese vice president Lai Ching-te as its new president.
Meanwhile, in our country, which supposedly knows a thing or two about democracy, the Iowa caucuses show how Americans feel about authoritarianism.
Some Americans actually like it even more than the Constitution allows.
About the Author
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1.
-
Activism4 weeks ago
Oakland Post: Week of March 20 – 26, 2024
-
#NNPA BlackPress3 weeks ago
COMMENTARY: D.C. Crime Bill Fails to Address Root Causes of Violence and Incarceration
-
#NNPA BlackPress3 weeks ago
Mayor, City Council President React to May 31 Closing of Birmingham-Southern College
-
#NNPA BlackPress4 weeks ago
From Raids to Revelations: The Dark Turn in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Saga
-
#NNPA BlackPress4 weeks ago
COMMENTARY: Lady Day and The Lights!
-
Activism3 weeks ago
Oakland Post: Week of March 27 – April 2, 2024
-
#NNPA BlackPress4 weeks ago
Baltimore Key Bridge Catastrophe: A City’s Heartbreak and a Nation’s Alarm
-
#NNPA BlackPress4 weeks ago
Baltimore’s Key Bridge Struck by Ship, Collapses into Water