No veiled references this time …

Professor Carl Tone Jones made one his infamous “riding along in my automobile” videos regarding the pettiness of Black people across the transom. #besafe #donttextanddrive.

The gist of it was that the indescribable “we” are so caught up in hysteria, hype and drama that the indomitable “we” often can’t see the forest for the trees.

It doesn’t matter whether Jones is right or wrong on that idea, what matters is the current current and social media tide that is supposed to drive change. Rather than draw on Black virtual power and digital and electronic resources to empower us, we are prone to use all the power we have on the media to take one another down one road and back up another.

When the day comes that a seriously TRIFLING matter with Black people on any social media site [thank you Dr. Umar] gets waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy more attention than something else that should be easily recognizable to us as EVEN MORE important, the pettiness piece becomes grossly contorted.

However, I do tend to cut Black folk some slack on the pettiness, because … well, if we are ‘crabs in a barrel’, it means we are outside or run aground of our natural habitat and have no choice BUT to use each other to try and get out.

I ran an experiment on UI a while back with an article that had been proven a lie and then immediately posted an article that concerned a grave truth about an issue Black America should have been tackling a long time ago. The results gave me a somewhat global view on why we are so easily divested of our rights in America.

It isn’t hard to understand how we miss out and lose out if we can get more “likes” and “hits” on a “viral lie” about the wealth and status of Allen Iverson and barely a glance at the news that yet ANOTHER thing that Black people struggled and died for in this country has been stolen right from under our corporate un-monolithic noses.

In the meantime, when an article gets posted regarding a known truth about “Doctor Umar,” and an ensuing comment focuses on the word “trifling” instead of the overall point of view of the article, there is only one thing left TO think: We’ve lost this fight…. Big time.

Any time a man finds it within himself to be a one-man band in a 10-piece orchestra, trying to play ALL the parts instead of his part in harmony with the rest of the band …

something ain’t quite right. We wonder why he could not at least have played the diminished note or even the flat note instead of a sour note that tries to make the whole piece go south.

***30***

Natural vs Nappy: Now that I have your attention …

If you missed the rest, Go Back to Part One of the Series “Heptagon.”