Richard Pryor on Anthropology, Human Origins and the N-word: 2008 AAA Recap Pt. 1

I am just getting finished with five days of conferring at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in San Francisco, California. I kept remembering this skit by Richard Pryor as I weaved in and out of paper presentations and directed students on their projects conducted on-site at the conference. Hearing students from diverse disciplines gush about the relevancy and liberatory aspects of anthropology brought Pryor's skit to mind. It is a great example of what we talk about in class: relationships between popular culture, research and policy. Shout out to the students of AFRS 310 Fall 08 as well as the amazing theorists and teachers who generously shared their precious time to "build" on important topics in contemporary anthropology with us. Stay tuned for Part 2, for more on this; )

Mo' on Prop 8: Blaming "the Blacks"?

Prop 8 passed. The initial hinting that it might pass on the night of Tuesday, November 4, was a blow to the elation that many felt from the early announcement of Obama’s victory. On Friday, November 7, thousands gathered in San Francisco, students gathered on college campuses, and thousands more took to the streets even earlier in other cities like Los Angeles. In the media aftermath, blame is blowing, and an interesting development has emerged. African Americans are being targeted as the reason for Proposition 8’s passing.

Proposition 8 sought to change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. On Tuesday, November 4 2008, it passed 52.3% (Yes) to 47.7% (No). Many Californians report that they were unclear that they were voting to amend the state constitution. Moreover, propaganda endorsing the Yes on Proposition 8 position obfuscated the issue by featuring children confused and vulnerable in commercials, claiming that the initiative was to protect children from education about sex and marriage in schools.

On Saturday November 8, The Letters to the Editor section of The San Francisco Chronicle led with, “Turning their backs on another minority.” In this printing, the author totalizes the civil rights movement into a comic book narrative of Rosa Parks and MLK, Jr. and sends shame to “the African American community” as she blames the passage of Prop 8 on the report that supposes that 70% of African Americans voted for Proposition 8.

Before we descend fully into to blaming “the blacks” let us look at the facts.

1. California is not South Carolina. Even if there were a monolithic black community that voted unanimously to outlaw civil rights for LGBT identified individuals, it would not make or break a vote. According to the US Census Bureau (2006), California’s “black” population is 6.7% (vs. South Carolina’s 29% or Mississippi’s 37.1%). Add in issues of racial profiling and discrimination of formerly incarcerated individuals at the poll and the numbers of people with easy access to voting quickly diminish.

2. My inner social scientist says this claim that 70% of African Americans voted “Yes” on Proposition 8 lacks empirical evidence, and my auto-ethnographic senses tell me that this is a wack attempt to wag the dog. There is over-reliance on an idea that African Americans are more homophobic than other identity groups in the US. There is also an assumption that everyone identified as LGBT is white. In order to fully understand the implications of the “70%” statistic, one must understand the conditions under which the data were collected. The exit poll numbers are from whom, what, where, when and why? What precincts were these African Americans being questioned in? What were non-African American voters reporting in these same precincts?

3. The strategy of the No on Proposition 8 campaign was not inclusive. Many report that the No on 8 community-based efforts were not targeted toward non-white communities or communities whose primary language was not English. Such was not the case with the opposition (the Yes on 8 campaign). I received fliers to my home from the Yes on 8 campaign that included images of Obama as well as other black religious leaders supposedly endorsing Yes on Proposition 8. Both strategies insult non-white communities that identify as LGBT as well as non-white ally communities.

Despite these foul ups on the part of political workers fighting against the passage of Prop 8, that doesn’t excuse the rampant homophobia in all communities.

We have serious work to do if we are to be united. That includes not allowing our social groups to dehumanize people who identify in same sex relationships. It is also imperative that those included in the LGBT human rights movement do not erode into racism and bitterness as our struggle continues. Divided we fall.


A version of this post originally ran at NewsOne on November 13, 2008.

Reconstruction

The nightmare is OVER on the national level, and the saga continues on the local level. Obama took it with a historic margin! No dragging it out all night or for days, no supreme court justices, no jankiness. Straight up victory! Like UGod/ Golden Arms said in Triumph, we feel "the thrill of victory!"

I experienced my most memorable election night since I began voting. A strange turn of events caused me to end up far from my current home and adjacent to my old neighborhood in West Oakland. I met my friends and "family" at Everette and Jones BBQ restaurant to watch some of election coverage, feed our kids and listen to some live music. By the time I left multiple roads were shut down and at least a thousand people had taken to celebrating in the streets around the restaurant and at various spaces downtown. People in cars were honking. Fireworks were being set off. People were crying and hugging and dancing and chanting! I was HOME. This was LOVE. I am thankful that my son and I experienced this together, and I am excited that we awere able to share it with his siblings and our friends. We are building our future. Cause we can; )

Given all of the love tonight, I am disappointed by some news from our city and state elections. Proposition 8, which seeks to interfere with human's fundamental right to marriage, was passing by a thin margin. That makes me ill. As I always quote MLK, Jr.: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I am hoping that when I wake up tomorrow and all the votes are counted that Proposition 8 will not pass. For now, that struggle continues, and I am still singing UGod's verse:

"Olympic torch flamin, it burns so sweet; the thrill of victory; the agony [of] defeat.... judgement day cometh, conquer it's war."

Beyond Obama to the Local Ballot

Being an anxious and early voter, I casted four ballots yesterday that decided the fate of 34 propositions and nine offices. I vote in San Francisco. Our voting agenda has fueled jokes from comedians and PACs alike. For example, The League of Young Voters (aka “The League”) called our city-issued voter guide a “phone book” due to the amount of propositions that were included, and Dave Chappelle, who graced the SF Punchline Comedy Club all of last week, teased the amount of funding given to certain propositions via commercial time versus others. A comparison of two State Propositions (6 and 8) can reveal why the “snaps” from folks like the League and Brother Chappelle are deserved. Both Propositions 6 and 8 sought to threaten human equality and civil rights, but only one enjoyed extensive fanfare and national coverage.

Proposition 8 seeks to eliminate the right of same sex marriage. It is a ridiculous attack on human equality and even Chappelle joked about its backwardness, particularly its endorsement commercials which sought to obfuscate the issue. I vehemently oppose such an outmoded attack on anyone’s basic rights and wonder who missed the Rev. Dr. MLK, Jr. memo regarding the fact that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’?

On the same note, Proposition 6, requires a “minimum of $965,000,000 of state funding each year for police and local law enforcement,” and it makes approximately 30 revisions to California criminal law.” I think The League’s summation of this proposition breaks it down. They posit that “this is a crass and vindictive attempt to demonize the poor, immigrants, and youth of color in order to pump more money into California's failed and bloated prison system,” as it allows for the prosecution of children as young as 14, denies undocumented immigrants’ right to bail, and targets families’ housing assistance if associated members do not pass criminal background checks (see http://www.theballot.org/2008/sf for full text). Where were the human rights zealots, celebrities from Hollywood and Unions’ commercials to highlight the affects of Proposition 6, as they did for Proposition 8? Injustice anywhere?

City and County Propositions ranged from K, which seeks to decriminalize prostitution and sex work, but also defunds alternative rehabilitation and support programs in the nonprofit sector, to R, which would rename a sewage treatment plant after George W Bush. This is my second time voting in San Francisco as I am recent resident, yet I see a troubling trend between today’s election and last June’s ballot options.

Clarity, focus and equal coverage of key human rights issues will be the challenge to SF’s claim to diversity and democratic ideals. While I don’t know what tonight will bring, I do know that election agenda items that secure housing for economically underdeveloped African Americans, such as Proposition F from our June 3rd election have not passed previously. In a city where black people are disappearing like bathwater down a drain, we need more than rhetoric to solidify what Rev. Dr. MLK, Jr. proposed.

Indeed, I am committed to organizing better in my social network for the next local election. This includes making sure my peer group has a trusted presence at meetings where propositions are written and revised. The implications of the local election propositions that I mentioned reach beyond Obama, and they are equally worth our attention and voice.

A Post-Traumatic Voter

On Tuesday, November 7, 2000, I went to bed in Gainesville, Florida with ease believing the announcements that Gore had won the 2000 Presidential Election. The next morning I awoke to a nasty nightmare that I am hoping will end tonight.

Worried that my vote for Obama still might not be counted, yesterday I trekked downtown to the San Francisco Supervisor of Elections’ office to cast my vote with a rare opportunity for extended early voting. As I clutched my signed, sealed envelope under my jacket away from wind and pouring rain, I wondered about the 42 other marks that have not enjoyed as much fanfare as the fight for presidential office.

The San Francisco ballots that allowed for choices on 34 propositions and nine offices have been criticized for being ill-written, unnecessary and overt attacks on civil rights. The League of Young Voters’ somewhat dogmatic descriptions of endorsements poignantly elucidate how poorly written and under-publicized many of this election’s propositions are. I concur.

As a research-obsessed professor with an extensive network of “experts” to draw from, I spent hours deciphering the texts and implications of many of the propositions. Only a few enjoyed fanfare, and much of that obfuscated the issues. My house phone, my mailbox, and my television have been flooded with propaganda endorsing or opposing the highest funded propositions for the past few months. The numbered State Propositions (such as 8) and even the lettered City and County Propositions (such as H) shared such attention with presidential candidates Obama and McCain.

On the Federal level, I find it offensive that in 2008, a year of historic firsts in politics, there was another ground-breaking story that has been largely ignored in mainstream media since July. For the first time in US history, two black women are running on a Presidential ticket together. McKinney and Clemente represent the Green party with an extremely progressive agenda. Having recently moved to California from Florida, a state where every last vote was counted more than once in the TWO highly contested presidential elections in 2000 and 2004, I understand the urge to focus on Obama to defeat McCain; however, focusing on that effort does not warrant the silencing of our exercise to reform the two party system. Nor does it warrant our lack of celebration, honor and respect for the grassroots political work that McKinney and Clemente have tirelessly executed.

The latter might be reiterated for SF’s District 12 Representative candidate for the Peace and Freedom party, Nathalie Hrizi, and the Green Party’s District 12 candidate, Barry Hermanson. While the District 12’s incumbent, Democrat Jackie Speier, was focusing on lowering the national speed limit to 60mph, Hrizi and others mentioned healthcare, economic crisis management, fighting against racism and xenophobia as well as ending the War in Iraq.

I come to each voting opportunity as post-traumatic voter. I cast my first votes in Missouri and my last two presidential election votes were placed in Florida. I admit, I have anxiety around voting, as I have generally experienced problems casting my actual vote and proving eligibility on Election Day. These particular issues did not affect me during the last two elections in SF, but here I see a new set of issues arising. Clarity, focus and equal coverage of key human rights issues will be the challenge to SF’s claim to diversity and democratic ideals.

The handful of African Americans fighting to remain in SF need to ensure that we too are attending to and protecting legislation on a local level that explicitly speaks to humanity across race, class, sexual orientation, gender and citizenship. Next time, rather than spending hours doing research on the “phone book” of propositions in solitude, I might do as Wu-Tang suggested in the first season of Chappelle’s Show and “diversify my bonds.”

A better strategy might be for my friends and I to designate and compensate individuals who we know and trust to attend meetings and advocate where propositions are constructed. We can assign our cohorts with less hectic schedules to help us build coalitions with similarly affected people. Finally, we can research the particulars of propositions once this information is made available, so that we are best informed in a timely manner to ensure human equality prior to Election Day.