The Message for 2018

Read. Absorb. Repeat.

What's the problem? You seem miffed. You're ready to defend yourself. You’re not trusted, get over it. You have to question yourself, good. Do it. Do it everyday. You feel like you've done nothing wrong, well cut that shit out. To think everything you've said or done to women you have interacted with was welcome, asked for, or respectful is bold. Take off that Knight-in-shining armor, it doesn't come in your size or mine. It never did. 

Wake up men, it's time to be better. It's past time. We're oozing with toxic masculinity and we can't stay silent when other men throw up that toxic shit everywhere. 

Please do not create scenarios in your head with a woman to validate things you say and do. 

Stop looking at feelings and attaching them to only women. 

Lose the phrase:

"You know how women are." 

Lose it forever.

Ingest art from ALL TYPES OF WOMEN. Listen to women in music, read their books, absorb their speeches, and watch them be influential. Respect powerful women, respect normal women, respect all women. 

Understand that every part of their life is measured writ-large by men for no god damn reason other than being male, the same way some of us get jobs we don't deserve.

A lot of you are trying to find the best way to go about courting a woman. You want to just get better at consent. That's short sighted. It's still got an uncomfortable twinge of sexism and misogyny in it. You're only worried about what you get out of women in that thought. Root problem for all of us is this: respect.

Women owe you nothing. 

Women owe you nothing. 

Women owe you nothing.

We have to end this. Women were not made just for relationships, they weren’t made to just procreate. You have an opinion about any woman’s behavior, keep it to yourself, no one wants to deal with you projecting your wimpy insecurities on them. 

You’re walking on the eggshells from the eggs we (men) broke and then finally acknowledge that you have the empty carton in your hand. 

The uncomfortable, uneasy feeling your having, that’s a good thing. You just need a little push, that lands you far away from the outdated, unwanted, should-have-never-been-a-thing thought process you are wrestling with. 

Get rid of the mentality that creates a general psychological profile of one particular woman you’ve seen on some counter culture site that makes you apply that to ALL women. You do not have unfettered access to women, by herself or in groups. Sometimes, women want to be left alone. Fight the urge to open your mouth. 

You feel it’s exhausting to have to try and earn respect, and treat women with decency even though you feel that hey, I did nothing to be seen this way, why can’t I get the benefit of the doubt, why does it feel like there’s nothing I can do to alleviate this cloud of confusion?

#YesAllWomen

You’re going to push a woman to the brink with all the dumb machismo of the douchiest bro. You’ll claim that “you’ve got this” or “trust me.” We exhaust women. 

We hurt them. We try to control them and we don’t acknowledge the stress we put them under with our toxic stubbornness that: “we know better than them.” We claim to logical but when it comes to listening to women, reason is of no consequence.

It’s insulting. 

Men, read this all again. Thank you. 

Kill Chivalry. Just be kind. 

America can’t spell USA

America can’t spell USA

by Matt Bright

America, you are a lot. This is usually the time of year where we are planning our holiday shopping for some reason like Christmas is two days away from Halloween.   

Instead it feels like this entire White House Administration is the steroid shot to racism, white supremacy, and bigotry. Fox News, Alex Jones, and Breitbart giving dosages of ignorance and the constant refill prescription from Ben Shapiro, Tomi Lauren, and Tucker Carlson of cognitive dissonance. 

American citizens of color are having their rights either trampled or overall denied. Charlottesville, Las Vegas, and now New York are all very tragic and received different responses that we all need to ingest and see as the covert racism it is. 

Charlottesville we had to wait for a response to get all the facts, three days for that shit. Finally giving us a “very fine people” or that blame was on both sides. That Nazis and White Supremacists deserve a voice in our democracy and then coining the idiot phrase “alt-left.” 

You waited for the facts on this? The facts led you to the conclusion that violence is wrong. Anyone with a brain knows that. Secondly, this is the same person who wishes for the “good ole days” where they could “knock’em out.” 

How about the police convention where he encouraged officers to not protect their heads when they put them in the squad. You literally said you grab women by their crotch but now after a white supremacist plows into a crowd killing one and injuring multiple others you #AllLivesMatter violence by saying: "it’s all bad." You’d drown in hypocrisy if you weren’t unfortunately the racist uncle that got elected President. 

Las Vegas he was damn near silent with no real solutions. Then New York happens and the whole system has to be up ended, the same day. The Las Vegas shooter was a millionaire old white guy who killed 50 plus and injured 600 more at a country music festival. America, we have finally found something more important than white people.

Guns. 

President called NFL players son’s of bitches. General John Kelly said the Civil War happened because of unwillingness to compromise like that was bad thing. This McPick two of racism with a side of revisionist sauce is just the type of malnutrition Trump supporters eat for lunch, breakfast, and #WhiteLivesMatter rallies.

Black Identity Extremists, a new distinction by the FBI to group together black nationalists and separatists as a movement. The words “Black Identity” together says that it is literally extreme to identify as Black in America. Such a broad generalization puts Black Lives Matter Groups that peacefully protest will be thrown under this dumb umbrella of bullshit by the public. 

A young woman at a college (Stanford University) is defiled, harassed, and downright disrespected by her roommate, and that story in detail is gruesome. The roommate referred to her on Instagram as The Jamaican Barbie. Another student at K-State (Kansas State) University was also a victim of racial intimidation when students vandalized his car with “Go Home Nigger Boy.” (Turns out this student made this up and has since apologized. He'll be held accountable for this, but when white folks do black face, it's all in good fun.)

College campuses these days are the breeding ground for racists and where progressive ideas go to die. After Richard Spencer was clearly caught on video giving Nazi salutes and sieg heiling Donald Trump like the new Führer, campuses are like: Let’s see what else he has to say, let’s here all the viewpoints. We can not view Nazi and white supremacy positions as viable paths to unity and progression. I don’t see anyone in America giving a platform to The Monarch Party of America, or The Neo-Colonialists Party. (Yes that’s dumb, but so is giving a Dick a stage to spout messaging from the 1930’s in 2017.)

His speech is weaponized, it’s not an open discussion about why white supremacy is good or bad. It’s a reinforcement and recruitment tool, especially since these are not paid engagements and the universities don’t even want him on campus. 

In Tennessee there was a #WhiteLivesMatter Rally that ended with a Mob terrorizing and fighting an interracial couple. That rally was racist as shit by the way. 

No one was chanting “Bring Back Friends. Bring back Friends.” Or “Whose bucks? Starbucks!..Who’s Bucks?...Starbucks!” 

It was the same people from Charlottesville just different branding at this “rally.” 

This is like chicken tenders at McDonald’s. Those are still chicken strips McDonald’s! You learned a new word (Buttermilk) and put them in a fancy box, fed it to the public as new and better, but it’s the same shit.

Just. Like. Racism. 

This is just in the last few weeks and there’s more. People still seem to think racism is made up, that we’re just buying into the narrative of mainstream media, which at its core is racist as it gives the notion that black and brown audiences do not know how to identify racism or that they are being outsmarted. 

That black and brown audiences do not have the mental capacity to see that news media is just fueling a race war and wants to divide us, meanwhile the entire White House Administration can’t seem to identify the bad guys in these riots and displays of intimidation but the White Supremacists and Nazis of this nation go unchecked, Get respected media presence, and are giving a seat at the table to hear their grievances with the country that will take it back to the 1800’s, but hey Marcus and Myeshia you’re just playing into the hand of the powers that be. 

Reclaiming my time, this is why we kneel, and I’m voting for everybody black. 

2017 sums up like this: No Hoods required. 

The real weakness

By Matt Bright

Harvey Weinstein isn’t surprising. He’s a reminder.

Donald Trump isn’t surprising. He’s a reminder.

Cam Newton isn’t surprising he’s a reminder. 

The NFL is a reminder. No one should be surprised.

Hugh Hefner is a reminder. No one should be surprised. 

Bill Cosby is a reminder. No one should be surprised. 

John Lennon also a reminder.

O.J. Simpson is a reminder. 

Ike Turner is a reminder. 

Derrick Rose, Patrick Kane, Ben Roethlisberger, and so many more. 

Religions are reminders. The History of whose held presidential office is an unbelievable reminder. 

The most popular sports are a reminder. The heroes in the most popular movies have become a constant reminder. 

Their paychecks are a reminder. The music we listen to is a reminder.

If you’re a woman reading this, seeing who wrote it might even be a reminder. 

Men dominate culture without any rhyme or reason. Then you make way for a few white women to star and call it equality. You give way to a focus on a certain portion of black culture and call it intersectional. 

Men of color receive some privileges before women of color and uphold a system that is detrimental to equality and empowerment of women of color, and black women, and Trans Black women (The least represented, the most excluded, and most unheard.) 

I didn’t want to address one singular issue like Harvey Weinstein because the shock is non existent, especially for all women. 

The San Bernardino Mass Shooter who made the YouTube video about how women gave him no affection or love. His reason for despicable, deplorable, and tragic event.

The video of a woman walking down the street in New York being harassed, and stalked for hours. The woman who took pictures with her harassers in selfies. 

Policemen who exchanged sexual favors for getting out of arrests.

Rape culture, the light sentences for rape. The staggering amount of unreported rapes, not to mention rapes that happen with marriages.

The constant conversation of telling women how to dress, repressing their sexuality for “safety” instead of teaching men to not violate a woman’s body. To get consent. 

Obliterating the term “Friendzone.”

The negative connotation of promiscuity prescribed to women and the accolade nature prescribed to men. 

Sexism needs to die, as a man, I’m not without fault. I’m just aware of it like a white person waking up to racism. 

In your proximity, you can make an impact. Listen to women, do your damn best to acknowledge them. Respect women. 

Learn it, repeat it. It won’t happen overnight and you’re going to surely fuck up along the way. However with practice you won’t be Harvey Weinstein or Donald Trump, the best you could hope for is a Cam Newton-like comment. 

Enough is enough. 

We love this country why don't you?

By Matthew Bright

It's 2017 and we are a part of a social climate that claims black and brown people do not know what it means to fight for their freedom. 

When you're exercising a freedom, then to be told you're not doing it right is like being an actor your whole life then your President of the USA, your bound to fuck shit up. When you're told to respect the flag first before your freedom regularly, As a barometer for what makes you more American. 

It turns respect into a term for false nationalism and repugnant patriotism. It comes before being a truly free American of any political class or social standing in our country. It makes me ask, we love this country but why don't you? 

We're like a broken car with a noise and know what the problem is, but we're going to just ride it until the engine blows cause it still gets me to the noon kickoff on Sunday. 

In this country we continue to keep telling black and brown communities they don't understand what it means to fight for freedom. When the very soldiers you speak of are also black and brown as well as white. When the lineage of black and brown American citizens is fighting for FREEDOM from actual slavery. 

You're just trying to deal with what you equate to as annoyance, which is incredibly misinformed and utterly out of touch. 

People from the Civil Rights era still exist to this day and some serve in Congress and find the state of our nation in dire circumstances. While people forget the infamous quote "Segregation now, Segregation forever." There are people alive who remember this. Racism is not a distant memory, it just has a mortality rate of a sea turtle, like 400 sea turtles. 

History shows us that the enslaved communities of America learned how to fight for freedom and up to this point those strategies have worked and continue to make headway. We want more strides and with that desire comes resistance (of the supremacist ilk.) 

I don't want to get into detail (again), about the black and brown people being shot unarmed by law enforcement (again). The predatory practices of law enforcement giving more fines and tickets to people that are black and brown (see Ferguson Missouri findings of justice department case and many others like it) again. 

I shouldn't have to. There's no counterpoint needed. If you bring up that white people die by police too, then let's address that as well. No one is trying to exclude white people. We can't. They're everywhere. They literally make up the majority of the population. No one should be trying to win the "Who gets killed by police more" award. 

To demand that they stand for the flag, to have a president that also demands it, is by definition, fascist. 

Somehow this Millionaire entertainer reality show star President gets the country but millionaire athletes whom engage in political activism don't. 

I'm just saying if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it's probably lacking self awareness that it's a duck. (Duck means racist.)

Overhauling a law enforcement system would benefit us all, right now it's costing, at a much higher rate, black and brown citizens of this country. It's why we're the loudest about the systemic problems. This is why we chose to be on the frontline of a very real issue. I would like to digress and take a second to address this buzz phrase: "perceived oppression." What the hell is that? We're not making up oppressors to make whiteness the villain for our demise. That's in their playbook, remember Emmett Till's accuser came forth and said she made it up. Perceived Oppression is your definition, what is used by those who don't even understand struggle let alone experienced it. Even then, quick to believe the bullshit. The more things change, the more things stay the same. Digression over. 

Implying we don't love this country because of silent non-violent protests but in the same breath make an argument for Nazis and White supremacists "freedom of speech" and protecting their rights. Who wouldn't wave a USA Flag if their lives depended upon it. The Leagues with majority people of color decide to (finally) take a stand (oh wait, not you Ray Lewis. You can have several seats.) against the very things that plague the communities they came from and give back are told "stick to sports." Treating them less than human it's what you're use to doing. 

NASCAR issued a statement they assumed would excite their fan base, to be honest it probably did, but when the Golden Boy of NASCAR and super fan of Ricky Bobby, Dale Earnhardt spoke out against this very statement in a tweet, I'm sure he'll be untouched. NASCAR will make excuses for him, his fans will say "that's how you protest." 

We will all be screaming after nothing happens to him and he is applauded for his bravery: 

ITS BECAUSE HE'S WHITE. THAT'S A WHITE THING. 

Amongst all this the reason for Kaeptain America's protest is being lost, black and brown people's plights are being washed up in the media storm of what is more important, a piece of cloth or an entire group of citizens protesting flagrant injustice, tonight on CNN. That conversation is nothing new to us, it's status quo. It's exhausting, but we fight on. 

Let's not forget the "why" they are kneeling and boycotting. We love this country, it's ideals, and we want to see them actualized. We really do love this country. A lot of us are worried that people in opposition of racial equality, dealing with police brutality, and killings of unarmed citizens do not have any love for our country, what are democracy strives to stand for, but also that they don't love themselves. 

My hope one day is you find love for your fellow citizens that make your country, that made your country, before love for your country. 

Talk it Out (Opinion)

by Matthew Bright

After all the rhetoric and all the outrage from Charlottesville simmers a bit, what do we do? What can we can we do? Activists whom feel words from the sympathetic are not enough. That action needs to taken by donating to causes and organizations. That is a valid point. They put themselves in that position for me, for us really, to progress this country in the right direction. So that type of direct action has the quickest impact. The question I pose is: Why is it bad to just be a concerned citizen and speak up passionately about oppression to people in your proximity?

What's wrong with openly talking to people in your proximity, known or unknown if they are willing to have a discussion for progress and change? I'm not talking about a debate about why you believe something isn't true or not. Facts are facts, they don't change because you don't like them.

You can deny racism, sexism, and bigotry all you want, but they exist. In my discussion with you I hope you become aware, you begin to point it out, and that it changes your perspective to something more inclusive, curious, and more encompassing.

This isn't about our public officials, this piece is about us. Those of us who stay silent, who know they don't believe in the things that happened in Charlottesville but will let someone defend the position of White Supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and The KKK without contention to keep things civil. Explain that away as "it's their perspective."

I also don't mean silent by not donating to groups. Donating to progressive groups that promote equality for all is part of the solution and surely doesn't hurt, but Donald Sterling gave too, its anecdotal but many people think donating is enough. Honestly it's not. It's part of the solution but it's just not enough.

We condemn people who speak the loudest about progressive topics and say talking isn't enough. That words aren't enough. We can not be silent. In our physical proximity challenge hatred, defend the peace, and protect each other from verbal attacks.

What I mean by being silent: When you do not check that relative on their belief that both sides are assholes, that can not happen. We can not hear blood and soil without using our freedom of speech to shout it down. We can't lose our way in right and wrong under the guise of ideology, philosophy, and fair debate with those who are intolerant.

I'm asking to challenge ideas not incite violence. Ideas that slow progress or cultivate a breeding ground for hate and fascism. Ideas that reinforce a system to suppress women and people of color must be challenged and destroyed. Online, in your home, challenge the culture around you to make it safer for your friends and loved ones and so that micro-aggressions decrease, that it's safer for our counterparts.

To defeat things like this it'll take more than donations and petitions. It'll take all of us affecting people in our proximity with awkward, most times, difficult conversations.

Yes it's exhausting, and with that in mind take time to energize yourself with nights out with friends, shows, movies, books, whatever keeps you sane.Whatever it is that gives you hope that what you're speaking out against will change. Keep fighting, keep speaking up.

Words Matter? Let's prove it.