Month: July 2018

Education Shaming

by ADRIAN MARIE JONES (AJay), posted in Uncategorized

Is there such a thing as “education shaming?” I think so. Many poor people will laugh at and shame rich people for being uneducated. Usually these people share the same background “At least I can read and punctuate and have command of English grammar” has been said a time or two…about and to very, rich and successful people. And it’s funny. Not ha ha funny, but sad funny Especially since there is only one reason to be traditionally educated and that’s for work and success.

Language is used to communicate. If a person can effectively communicate, there is no problem. If someone writes “theirs” and they meant “there’s” and you can tell by the sentence what they meant because you’re busy correcting grammar, you’re an 🐴. Because if they were speaking, you wouldn’t know that they made a grammatical error. And people rarely correct others to help them. They correct to make others feel small.

So here we are, in 2018, judging people for misspelled words, missing punctuation and dropped consonants while they are dancing to the bank. But we’re proud to know the English language because somehow that makes us better? Somehow bring bamboozled into thinking that this “education” leads to a good life when it’s clear that all it definitely leads to is a false sense of superiority. “Rich people have no morals, they won’t get into heaven, and they are miserable.” Newsflash: poor people sin, but they are miserable because they don’t have job, home or food security. I could do without the latter. I can work on a better me if I’m not worried about life’s necessities. However, these are the things society teaches us so that we don’t really mind being poor. “It’s not so great being rich.” Really? Let me try it.

I don’t want to be rich. I want to be stable. But how does having command of the English language make one feel better about going hungry or not being able to pay bills? How could we have gotten it so backwards? Bastardization of the colonizer’s language has always been an act of rebellion. It’s also a form of class rebellion. Do we buy massa’s word that the slaves couldn’t speak proper English because they couldn’t read?

Language is first and foremost auditory. Children speak what’s spoken to them. We’re so caught up in a world of status and class that we’ve let the few dictate the path of the many. Only in such a world can a poor and hungry person look down on a rich and well fed person and shame them for being uneducated.

The next time you fix your face to correct someone’s grammar (who is not a troll) understand that unless you’re doing it in private, it’s shaming and ask yourself why you’re doing it. Because I’ve seen people regurgitate nonsense with perfect grammar while someone, with broken English, expresses original, logical thoughts. If you are correcting someone, 9 times out of 10, it’s because you understood them.

Quality of Life Issues?

by ADRIAN MARIE JONES (AJay), posted in Uncategorized

According to Fox News, there are issues to be addressed on San Francisco’s BART system. In my Google News feed this morning was the headline “Video appears to show homeless man using drugs on BART train in San Francisco.”

It’s obvious and unfortunate that the talk of “quality of life” doesn’t apply to the quality of life of this homeless addict who is not alone. Commuters have been filming these conscious and unconscious addicts in an apparent attempt to highlight “a dangerous trend.” For whom exactly? Because it’s not the drug use that’s the issue here; it’s the drug use on the train.

We often get so caught up in our own lives that we don’t realize that our temporary inconvenience is someone’s living nightmare.

Who are these do gooder filmers worried about? I’m really confused. Well, I’m not really confused. The coverage is bland to say the least. The story is simply filed under “drugs.”

I may be assuming a lot. Maybe the writer is speaking about the perils if drug addiction and is concerned about the addicts. But it appears that relieving the inconvenience of these working commuters, is a bigger priority than helping homeless addicts. Maybe…. Here’s a thought…. What if…. How’s about, we actually help the addicts so they won’t be homeless or a danger to themselves? I think that would solve both issues.

We often get so caught up in our own lives that we don’t realize that our temporary inconvenience is someone’s living nightmare. We must do better. We must be able to empathize with those who are less fortunate.

Black African Immigrant Woman, Therese Patricia Okoumou, Climbs the Statue of Liberty and Black Americans Ask Why She Would Protest For Mexicans

by ADRIAN MARIE JONES (AJay), posted in immigration, solidarity

The year is 2018 and Black Americans, Descendants of the Black Africans who were shipped to North America, and became victims of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, still don’t understand that Black people are bigger than African Americans. Black people are global. But even here in The United States of America, these African Americans don’t understand that other Black people, who emigrated from other countries, after the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, have a different experience from “African Americans.”

Coming to a country on a student visa or travel visa and staying is cheaper than going through proper channels.

Many Black people weren’t born here. Some came legally and others came illegally. The immigration laws worked against people of color, especially Black people, and they still do. Getting here legally takes money. Across the globe, Black people are impoverished. Coming to a country on a student visa or travel visa and staying is cheaper than going through proper channels.

#Therese Patricia Okoumou is an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She is an activist. She works hard. It would be easy for her to just live her life and not worry about what happens to others. Why did Patricia Okoumou decide to fight for others? Because she’s a fighter and that’s what fighters do. If we continue to only worry about ourselves, or our immediate families, what kind of world would this be?

Why should anyone be concerned with any issue that doesn’t affect them? Because that’s how change happens.

So when Black people ask why would a Black person worry about the rights or fates Mexicans, it’s quite baffling. And it displays a new level of ignorance. Are there not Black Mexicans? That’s one, and two, no struggle is won without solidarity. Why are we looking at Mexicans as our enemies anyway. Technically, they were here first. And if Black people buy into these immigration policies that wreak of nationalism and racism, why should anyone look at any policies that affect Black people in the majority, if they aren’t Black? Why should anyone be concerned with any issue that doesn’t affect them? Because that’s how change happens.

It pains me to see traditionally educated Black Americans that are ignorant of these facts. It pains me even more to see them speak on these facts with such conviction. Add to this, a huge social media following and it’s a recipe for disaster. It’s can also serve as ground zero for spreading commonly held misconceptions to the young and impressionable who rely on these opinion pieces written by these educated folks to bring them understanding and fresh insight. They aren’t looking for regurgitated garbage but many times, that’s what they find.

We must engage in actions that affect us directly, indirectly and actions that don’t affect us at all.

If we plan to see a different world for our children, we have to make a different world for our children. We must engage in actions that affect us directly, indirectly and actions that don’t affect us at all. Oppression Olympics is useless, Black solidarity shouldn’t stop at borders, and lastly, we, as Black Americans, cannot continue to support oppressive policies because we’re not the drawing the short straw.

There’s a Right Way To Protest…..

by ADRIAN MARIE JONES (AJay), posted in Uncategorized

I’m so tired of this rhetoric “there’s a right way to peacefully protest.” Yes, there is: Disrupt as much as you can without hurting anyone. Protests are meant to be inconvenient. They are meant to bring awareness the unaware. We can’t do this on the corner in the ghetto. We can’t do this with no cameras. The cameras don’t come to the ghetto unless it’s to report on “Black on Black Crime” and neither do middle class blissfully unaware folks.

No one understands anything until it happens to them…. It’s a saying. But sometimes, they may understand if they can’t avoid the topic. If we screamed from the mountaintops, no one would hear us. So see us at your malls, on your rush hour commute, at your favorite tourism local…. disrupting as much as possible, as often as possible, until things change. Protests that disrupt nothing, serve no purpose.