Wednesday, February 28, 2018

NBA Champs Skip White House: Take Students to Visit National Museum of African American History and Culture

It's time to Break It Down!

On the final day of last summer (September 22, 2017), the Golden State Warriors’ phenom Step Curry voiced his disinterest in taking the customary ceremonial visit to the White House, a time-honored tradition by many Championship sports teams in America. Curry is one among a host of luminaries who have consistently expressed their displeasure with President Trump, based on his policies and his rhetoric. During the team’s media day, Curry had the following to say:

"My views haven't changed at all. I don't know if anybody's changed. But that's where I stand right now. I don't want to go. That's my nucleus of my belief."

A number of Curry’s teammates, and his coach, Steve Kerr, expressed similar sentiments. Kevin Durant said he would not go. So did David West. Draymond Green added:

“We’re going to have a discussion to pretty much take the temperature of everyone. We’re going to decide what is best, whatever we think is best for us.”

Curry further explained his reservations thusly:

“Basically the things he said and the things he hasn’t said at the right times, we won’t stand for it. By acting and not going, hopefully that will inspire some change when it comes to what we tolerate in this country and what’s accepted and what we turn a blind eye to.”

Steph noted the travails of Colin Kaepernick, whom Trump disparaged for kneeling during the National Anthem as a way to protest police brutality toward minorities. He also referenced Seahawks’ defensive end Michael Bennett, who said he experienced racial profiling following the Mayweather-McGregor fight, when he had a gun drawn on him.

He conceded not going to the White House is not the equivalent of a silver bullet, and will not instantly or miraculously make all things right. But it is, he said, his opportunity to give voice to those kinds of concerns. Coach Kerr, General Manager Bob Myers, and Co-owner Joe Lacob agreed the decision deserved a proper forum and the right amount of thought. Myers revealed that though there had been a discussion with the White House, they had not granted a formal invitation (as I noted earlier). But that was soon a moot point.

As you know, Mr. Trump considers himself the King of clap back. So, shortly after hearing about what he considered Curry’s unimaginably injurious slight, he withdrew the invitation that, while implied due to custom, technically had not yet been extended. But I digress. As I find myself saying, far too often these days, and thinking more frequently than I say, this kind of tit for tat hijinks might actually be mildly amusing…were it not for the fact that it involve the Leader of the free world as an integral player.

Fast-forward to Saturday (the next day), and Mr. Trump pulled out his old friend Twitter, and framed his retort, “officially,” rescinding an invitation that was never, in reality, tendered, with however many clicks of his keypad:

“Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!”

One presumes this kind of hissy fit of a rejoinder renders Trump immensely satisfied, and his teeming mass of ardent supporters in a state of full-scale orgasmic relief. Again, if only this were a segment of a weekly comedy special, instead of acts characteristically endemic of the daily routine of the man wearing the title POTUS. Sad.

But that was then. Yesterday, the Warriors sojourned to the Nation’s Capital and spend the day reaching back to students. Kevin Durant has roots in the D.C. area. He grew up in Suitland, MD, outside of the District. The students selected for the visit attend his former elementary school. Speaking of those youngsters, Durant said:

“Kids from my area don’t really get that opportunity to be in front of champions like that. So hopefully it will inspire them to just be whatever they want to be in life.”

To merge the visit, contextually, with the pending end of Black History Month, the team planned a visit with them to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Durant was particularly excited about the opportunity to be a part of the team taking kids from his old “hood” to see the Museum, while facilitating their introduction to members of the Warriors team. Before the visit he opined:

“Hanging with the kids tomorrow is going to be pretty cool as well. Celebrate our Championship kids, especially in the neighborhood I grew up in. It’s going to be pretty amazing. I just want them to take it in. I want them to meet Steph and Klay. … Hopefully we set a good example. I know we set a good example every time we walk on the court and every time we walk around. It’s going to be cool to be up close and personal.”

It is worth noting that Steph and Klay actually did visit the White House earlier, when the Warriors won the NBA Title in 2015 and subsequently visited with President Obama in 2016. Durant was not with the team at that time, but, as with the majority of the players, coaches, management, and team ownership, he was on board with the collective team decision to ditch what would have been the 2018 Edition of the NBA Champions’ White House visit. The paramount reason and specific business purpose for the Warriors’ visit to the Nation’s Capital comes this evening when they play The Washington Wizards. Nevertheless, it’s a near certainty that yesterday’s visit to the NMAAH&C with students from Seat Pleasant, Maryland was critically important to the entire organization, and especially to their newest star, and DMV homeboy, Kevin Durant. That’s why this post is entitled, “NBAChamps Skip White House Visit: Instead Take Students to Visit National Museumof African American History and Culture!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

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Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Witch Hunt. Hoax. Fake News. Phony Scam. #NotAnymore!

It's time to Break It Down!

Donald Trump has consistently maligned the investigation of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, using terms like witch hunt, hoax, fake news, and phony scam. If you’ve followed the situation, you know he hasn’t stopped there. Mr. Trump routinely leverages broadside assaults against the FBI, and ignores the assessment of his own (as in he appointed them) Intelligence Agency Directors. In the considered opinion of the collective American Intel community, The Russians meddled in the 2016 Presidential Election.

The very idea of this conclusion is akin to a bur in Trump’s very ample saddle. By his way of thinking, the mere suggestion that anything other than his personal brilliance, and stellar campaign tactics were responsible, in any way, for his victory, is not just a rank miscalculation, but also an affront to his refined sensibilities.

The Leader of the free world is so personally absorbed with his perception of being ill-treated by the FBI, he asserted that the Agency was responsible for the recent Florida school shooting because…they were obsessed with Trump, rather than with conducting the appropriate follow-up on Nikolas Cruz, the young man who killed 17 students and staff. Of course, this completely ignores the fact that the FBI has 35,000 employees, and that the criminal investigation in Florida is in no way connected with the political meddling case.

Add to all this the fact that Trump refuses to take Vladimir Putin and Russia to task for their actions; not even by executing Sanctions approved by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 98-2. So does that mean the President of the United States has more faith, trust, and confidence in Putin than in his own FBI? You be the judge.

Last Friday, Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein held a news conference at which he detailed charges related to indictments against 13 Russian Nationals and three Russian entities for trying to influence the 2016 Presidential Election in the United States…in favor of Donald Trump. Boom! As they say in the MiO commercial, “This changes everything.”

A summary of the 37-page indictment, as detailed by Bloomberg, includes several key elements:  

Twelve of the Russians worked in various capacities to carry out election and political interference operations targeting the U.S. -- "by impairing, obstructing and defeating the lawful function of the government through fraud and deceit." 

The campaign started in 2014, ran through the presidential election of 2016, and continued after that.

"Some defendants, posing as U.S. persons and without revealing their Russian association, communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign and with other political activists."

An American with a Texas-based grass-roots organization suggested to the Russians that they should focus their activities on "purple states like Colorado, Virginia and Florida.” After the exchange, the Russians commonly referred to targeting those states.

Their financing was provided by the 13th defendant, Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and companies which he allegedly controlled.
Mueller Accuses Russians of Pro-Trump, Anti-Clinton Meddling

The Russians posed as Americans, created fake personas, and ran social media pages and groups designed to attract U.S. audiences, including on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. They also used stolen identities of real Americans to post on those accounts.

The goal was "to sow discord in the U.S. political system," including the presidential election, by supporting the Trump campaign and disparaging his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, with ads and rallies.

They’re charged with failing to disclose those expenditures, failing to register as foreign agents and obtaining visas through false and fraudulent statements.

The program was run from St. Petersburg, Russia.

It employed hundreds of individuals for its online operations

The organization, with an annual budget equivalent to millions of U.S. dollars, aimed to carry out "information warfare" against the U.S.

From Introduction to Substitute Assets, Mueller’s Indictment covers 99 individually enumerated topics, several of which also included alpha-based subdivisions. To give you an idea of the depth of the strategies and tactics the Russians employed, I pulled items 43-46 for your edification. These elements focus on the Russian operatives communicating derogatory information about Trump’s GOP Primary opponents, and Hillary Clinton, and communicating information in support of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. During the General Election, they produced and distributed an array of pro-Trump and anti-Clinton election materials, maintained corresponding social media accounts, and undertook a variety of efforts to suppress minority voting.

43. By 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used their fictitious online personas to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump. 43. By 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used their fictitious online personas to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.

44. Certain ORGANIZATION-produced materials about the 2016 U.S. presidential election used election-related hashtags, including: "#Trump2016," "#TrumpTrain," "#MAGA," "#IWontProtectHillary," and "#Hillary4Prison." Defendants and their co-conspirators also established additional online social media accounts dedicated to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, including the Twitter account "March for Trump" and Facebook accounts "Clinton FRAUDation" and "Trumpsters United.''

45. Defendants and their co-conspirators also used false U.S. personas to communicate with unwitting members, volunteers, and supporters of the Trump Campaign involved in local community outreach, as well as grassroots groups that supported then-candidate Trump. These individuals and entities at times distributed the ORGANIZATION's materials through their own accounts via retweets, reposts, and similar means. Defendants and their co-conspirators then monitored the propagation of content through such participants.

46. In or around the latter half of 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators, through their ORGANIZATION-controlled personas, began to encourage U.S. minority groups not to vote in the 2016 U.S. presidential election or to vote for a third-party U.S. presidential candidate.

a. On or about October 16, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used the ORGANIZATION-controlled Instagram account "Woke Blacks" to post the following message: "[A] particular hype and hatred for Trump is misleading the people and forcing Blacks to vote Killary. We cannot resort to the lesser of two devils. Then we'd surely be better off without voting AT ALL."

b. On or about November 3, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators purchased an advertisement to promote a post on the ORGANIZATION-controlled Instagram account "Blacktivist" that read in part: "Choose peace and vote for Jill Stein. Trust me, it's not a wasted vote."

c. By in or around early November 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used the ORGANIZATION-controlled "United Muslims of America" social media accounts to post anti-vote messages such as: "American Muslims [are] boycotting elections today, most of the American Muslim voters refuse to vote for Hillary Clinton because she wants to continue the war on Muslims in the middle east and voted yes for invading Iraq."

Considering there was 95 other numbered items in the indictment, you can imagine the degree of specificity and depth involved in Friday’s Mueller indictment. There is really only one point I wish to underscore with this post. The charade is over. Witch Hunt. Hoax. Fake News. Phony Scam. #NotAnyMore!”

I'm Done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

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Wednesday, February 14, 2018

America The Racist: Yeah, It's Black History Month

It's time to "Break It Down!"

Happy Valentine’s Day!

As you know February is Black History Month. For 28 days Americans of African descent will be feted honored, and buffeted with an array of historical retrospectives ranging from Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, founder of Chicago, to Barack and Michelle Obama, two of the most famous Americans to call the Windy City home. But that’s not all. Over the course of the month a variety of groups and individuals will be making an effort to elevate a truth that has never been fully told, and that is too often flatly denied.

According to a study completed by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, The National Basketball Association (NBA) was 74.3 black during the 2015-16 season, and 81.7 percent of the players were people of color. The study also found that 18.3 percent of the League’s players were white (including Europeans), while 22.3 percent of players were international. That translated into 43 white Americans spread across 30 NBA teams. However, eight teams did not have a white player at the start of that season.

On the basis of the preceding summary, it may sound as though the NBA is ground zero for black emergence in America. That might be one way to look at it. Another view might be that it is an oasis in the midst of a sprawling desert of despair for many black folks. The reality is the previous statement is many African Americans’ truth.

From time to time someone with a commanding profile steps up, takes a megaphone and shouts the truth from the mountaintop. Enter Gregg Popovich, an NBA icon. You may know Pop as the Head Coach of the 5-time NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs, or as the guy who hired the first full-time, salaried female Assistant Coach in NBA history, or as the next Head Coach of Team USA, the Men’s Olympic Basketball Team. Is that high profile enough for you?

During the month of February, the NBA celebrates Black History Month in a variety of ways. The league honors trailblazers like Earl Lloyd, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and Chuck Cooper for breaking the league’s color barrier in 1950. Individual teams look back at their respective pasts. Players wear special gear, including sneakers and warm-up shirts to commemorate those who have come before. For the primarily African American league, the month of special activities serves as recognition of, and acknowledgment that the giant steps the NBA has taken toward international success and prominence have come as a result of strength, sacrifices, and contributions of a great many people, on the court and off of it, over the years.

In addition, they also call to the forefront of our minds how much further we all have to go. That was the aspect that Coach Popovich was most interested in discussing when he was asked about his thoughts on Black History Month, Monday, prior to a game between The Spurs and the Utah Jazz.

Popovich is known as a no-nonsense, give short shrift to mundane post-game interview kinda guy. He’s also renown for occasionally speaking his mind on pertinent social issues of the day. Given the latter, it was not surprising that just a couple of days ago; he framed the scenario in stark, blunt truth terms:   
 
"I think it's pretty obvious," he told reporters. "The league is made up of a lot of black guys. To honor that and understand it is pretty simplistic. How would you ignore that? But more importantly, we live in a racist country that hasn't figured it out yet. And it's always important to bring attention to it, even if it angers some people. The point is, you have to keep it in front of everybody's nose so they understand it still hasn't been taken care of and we have a lot of work to do."

As implied above, Popovich, who matriculated at the Air Force Academy, and who served five years in the military, has frequently voiced his displeasure with the state of affairs in the U.S. political system and broader discourse — has spoken about the importance of recognizing that many of the issues central to black history in the United States aren’t really “history” at all.

Coach Popovich said last February:

“Well, it’s a remembrance, and a bit of a celebration in some ways. It sounds odd because we’re not there yet, but it’s always important to remember what has passed and what the black population is experiencing now. It’s a celebration of some of the good things that have happened, and a reminder that there’s a lot more work to do.

But more than anything, I think if people take the time to think about it, I think it is our national sin. It always intrigues me when people come out with, ‘I’m tired of talking about that,’ or ‘Do we have to talk about that again?’ And the answer is, ‘You’re damned right we do.’ Because it’s always there, and it’s systemic, in the sense that when you talk about opportunity, it’s not about, ‘Well, if you lace up your shoes and you work hard, then you can have the American dream.’ That’s a bunch of hogwash.

If you were born white, you automatically have a monstrous advantage – educationally, economically, culturally, in this society and all the systemic roadblocks that exist, whether it’s in a judicial sense, a neighborhood sense with laws, zoning, education. We have huge problems in that they are very complicated, but take leadership, time, and real concern to try to solve. It’s a tough one; because people don’t rally want to face it.

In all likelihood, that includes many NBA fans, and no doubt, many Spurs fans, who might appreciate Popovich’s gifts as a coach and executive, but might not look so kindly on his assessment of the U.S. as a “racist country.” Regardless of whether all those watching, listening to, and/or reading his words share his viewpoint, it doesn’t appear that Coach Popovich is going to be dissuaded from espousing the legit truth, anytime soon.

Love it or hate it, that’s the good news. America The Racist: Yeah, It’sBlack History Month!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

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