A Few Other Notes

I used to catch them Chinatown bus jawns when I used to live in Philly.

Ten ones. You cain't beat that.

Weren't they in some kinda body smuggling scandal or some shit?

Yo I live in L.A. and our Mexican bruvas out here totally made them feel it.

Whiteys was mad. Then they was like "we'll just see y'all back at work tomorrow."

So many issues are getting overlooked.
I wish I could speak out for Mexicans here.

I gotta a few gangmembers on the eastside that I'm cool with but on the whole Mexicans out here don't really fuck wif Black people.

It ain't like it is on the East Coast. You know how Ricans is like lightskin Black people. Out here the whiteys mistreat Mexicans so bad, so inhumane that Mexicans take that shit out on Black People.

So some of the stuff I see I can't really speak on cuz Mexicans be mad at Black People like the shit is out fault.

But it was still beautiful to see all my people (Mexicans=Native Americans=Black People) locking the streets down yesterday.

Traffic was tied up on Third Street.

Whiteys was mad.

That was funny.

-Black People

that close up shot of one of the men with the capitol building in the background is very striking.

the 'men in suits' photo is great. in kenya (and i'm sure many other african countries), wearing suits is the everyday norm. even if you're unemployed! (it sure makes you look like you're employable!) you'll come across guys on the streets wearing 10 suit jackets - one on top of another - hawking them like they were fake rolexes in nyc.

word. about LA's brown people being segregated & the men in suits..
.
well, LA is just mad segregated in general. even the (post 60's riots) city planning is all about intentional separation (in case it happens again).

as a rican visiting somewhat recently, i was definitely struck by that. hurt by it.
in certain cirlces, it ain't no thing, but in general - ay ay ay.

i met a young brother there who was 1/2 rican, 1/2 mexican (an anomaly & a coincidence). one of the first things i asked him was "where do the brown people chill?". one of the first things he asked me was deep - w/a look of almost sadness or regret - "do puerto ricans and black people hang out together over there?" (here - nyc). i was like "of course! why?"

that was just my first day. i hadn't experienced the dynamics yet.

the two cities have crazy different histories. over there, mexicans are still the predominant latinos and they were there before everyone, including africanos. in nyc, black folk were here before us. but we're black too, so i imagine when we came and saw black people, we didn't see "other" or "different" or "not us" or "wrong neighborhood". mexicanos don't have african presence and evidence like that in their country, in their families, in their blood. that might help the alienation. (no pun intended.)

which kinda brings me to another comment about the photo of the dapper dinka men. i could be mistaken, but i think their people are referenced in an old puerto rican addage: "el que no tiene dinga, tiene mandinga." (he who doesn't have dinga (or dinka) has mandinga (or jula?). in other words - if you're not african, you're african. you say that to a boricua who utters or postures anti-africanism. to remind them they're talking about themselves, their whole family, their whole country.

i don't really hear that saying anymore. but i feel we need it. the kids need it. the kids who don't remember when "black & puerto rican" was heard more often than "macaroni & cheese". kids like the ones who say "nigger" like a good thing and "moreno" like a bad thing. wha' happen'??? i feel like grabbing their relaxed hair and showing it to them. show them their new-growth dinka roots.

divide & conquer works like a motherf***er.
just not for us.