Entertainers Have Become The New Activists?

Check out the reaction post from Professor JT over at Johnturnerworld.blogspot.com

Warning: This post is written with logic and not emotion, if you are in your feelings and can not process logic, do not continue reading, but share this post with a logical person

Endi's Take:

These recent events have hit home to me. I consider Baltimore, Maryland my second home. I spent nearly  1/4 of my life in that city and to see what's going on it is bothersome to my soul.  Kudos to young people coming together to show their concern for the life of a man that was taken from him.  I love that even the most conflicting groups within urban culture can come together for a cause of justice and fair treatment  in the community.  I just wish that when "s#!t hits the fan" things can be resolved more organized. Social media has played a huge role in reporting factual events and images that news companies for what ever reason, misconstrue the facts behind reactive nature of the people taking a stand for what they believe in.


New found conscious

On social media, we have people that believe they are conscious and post ridiculous statements and believe whole heartedly that people that have no background in social activism should be our leaders and voices in these protests against injustice.  Yes, I understand the fact that they have a powerful voice and can bring attention to the situation, However, these riots do have attention, the riots in Baltimore are all over the news and social media, so you aren't looking for a voice, you are looking for a leader, and if  I was an entertainer I would be reluctant to step up into that position. Especially if I spent my life trying to give the public my gift of song, dance,  etc.  Entertainers speaking up is not the issue,  our expectations for an artist is extremely too high, you expect these people to be Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King.  Do y'all understand that those men were not entertainers, they were activists that lead conscious individuals in demonstrations to make major changes in the United States.  Stop asking what Jay-z , Kanye, J. Cole or another entertainer can say on this situation and get up and go to community town hall meetings and get to know who are the leaders in your community that can and will help form an organized demonstration that can bring forth change within the communities that are being affected by police brutality.  Our leaders are here, we have to help them help us.
This is what you are interested in hearing from your entertainers?

Misplaced Anger

Have you ever been in a situation where someone close to you angers you, in response you lashed out at coworkers,  classmates and/or random people on the streets? What does this behavior remind you of? Certain few officers are the source of the anger,  why are you lashing out on to others and not the source of the issue?  It's a very emotional and childish response and very well could be the reason your beloved artists are not speaking up and being the voice of the movement. I'm not condemning violence or supporting,  I just believe there are certain routes that we haven't tried and violence should be the last resort. Stop giving innocent policemen overtime pay.


Looting, destruction of property.

How do these things help the cause?  The place that is being looted,  did they harbor the police officers that are killing black men? How about those buildings,  is that the home of the officer who killed the unarmed black man? All of this just reminds me of an emotional woman in an argument and she decides to break things in the home to deal with her frustrations.  I will repeat,  organized reaction is the key,  u burn a building and now a person has an insurance claim and will be paid a lump sum for the the business they owned.  Pointless destruction,  without getting into tactics,(don't want the government to think I am a leader of terrorism ) focus all this behavior on the source and stop lashing out uncontrollably.

Do the right thing

I have pointed out some things I believe we are doing wrong in our stance against police brutality. Here's a list of the things I think are positive and proactive to the cause:
1) Unity within the culture.
2) Mobilized protesting.
3) Social Media first hand accounts of the activity.
4) Social media challenging and correcting news reports.
5) Showing our government we will not stand around quietly while unarmed black American           citizens are being murdered with out reasonable cause.


Lauren's Take :

It's actually funny that Endi calls me a hippie and the stance I am taking on the current state of America. It is a lot of misplaced anger but no one cares we are angry so what else does America expect. Baltimore is pretty much our second home and not only am I angry but fed up with injustices in Ferguson, and Long Island, and Cleveland, and Sanford and any other city in the US. It’s evident that no one is really listening or even cares to understand. But why is that?

The media has a way of spinning everything to where it discredits the disenfranchised into making them the initial problem. When I saw Ferguson going down I witnessed through social media sites just how they used a small group, discredit the cause by playing it on a loop. Even understanding how Baltimore operates, I pretty much predicted how they would discredit the Baltimore protesters to the country. The media didn't show the peaceful march for 3 miles until it reached the Inner Harbor. They only showed the aftermath when heckling Orioles fans who were inconvenienced provoked the crowd with racial slurs. The media isn't telling you that they scared the public with a "credible threat" Monday morning that the gangs united to kill off the police. Thus causing the Maryland Transit Authority to shut down just when high school let out. The media isn't telling you that this is how these kids get home now all these teenagers are stranded and met with officers dressed in riot gear in an already tense environment. I didn't see gang members taking out police I seen teenagers on the news. I am not even asking anyone to take my word for it go search videos on You Tube and any other form of out there. There is so much information out there for anyone to be ignorant on these issues.

Yes, we need leadership and organization but also need to realize how the system works. I may be called a conspiracy theorist but somehow they twisted the story to lessen the death of a black man, AGAIN. I am not saying violence or even nonviolence but whatever works. Stay Woke!

Thanks for reading
Contact us:
Email: Ratchetsophistication@gmail.com
Twitter : Endi - @Abruptndemandin
.              Lauren - @TheLaurenWay



What they aren't showing on the news: