Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Yoruba Affairs - USA TODAY: George Floyd’s death sparks demonstrations in Minneapolis, Memphis, and Los Angeles

i mostly agree with you michael. most people outside the u.s. do not understand the extent to which race and class are conflated; how our division in this country is not simply along racial lines, but rich vs not-rich, with the very rich infinitely more powerful and wealthy than ever

yet, the ability of those who are not black and poor to work on their behalf still exists.

can't we say, for instance, that black faculty in this country are not poor or uneducated, but have class consciousness and work on behalf of black concerns generally. not all belong to some black elite club that excludes social consciousness? how could you have written what you did if this were not true?

you touch a real chord on the agony of this tragedy, and the feeling of helplessness about what should be done, what could be done.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

---

From: 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2020 9:44 AM
To: ya <yorubaaffairs@googlegroups.com>; dialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>; yorubaaffairs+owners@googlegroups.com <yorubaaffairs+owners@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Yoruba Affairs - USA TODAY: George Floyd's death sparks demonstrations in Minneapolis, Memphis, and Los Angeles

 

This is depressing - tragically depressing! It's not the first and, sadly, it won't be the last. Now, more than ever before, the system is set in place for the atrocity to grow its wings and spread even faster than the coronavirus. This is because the proverbial chief of the treasury has itching hands! 

Here is my exasperation: The poor black, mostly uneducated/half-educated will continue to be the ready victims. This, unfortunately, is because there no longer exists a MKJ, Rosa Park (or even white folks like Jonathan Daniels or Atticus Finch) willing to give his/her life challenging the establishment on behalf of the poor black race. It has become a class struggle, not a race conflict. Successful blacks folks are hardly on the frontline fighting the war today (or on the streets carrying the placards) because they are not the ones being directly victimized. They, therefore, talk about it on their privileged talk shows; write about it in their elitist print journals and social media; then face their businesses, intellectual pursuits; protect their children and grandchildren and move on. This is because it is now a model of what the Yoruba call "olórí dó'rí ę mú" (each one the watcher of his/her own head). Even sadder is the fact that those street protests are effervescent; they will die down as suddenly as they sprang up. In my lifetime of American sojourn, I could so easily count 20 of such. Wait for a few weeks, by a mere stroke of luck, the family of Floyd would be settled, given what attorneys call "nuisance money", served a gag order, and the story would go into oblivion, becoming another archival material for future references.

As week as the body might be perceived, this could be a good case for the World Court! America has never handled race issues fairly, especially with respect to African Americans and it's not about to do it, especially now. This is not just a civil rights matter; it boarders on human rights!

Michael O. Afoláyan

(Just thinking loud in my state of helplessness and exasperation)

On Thursday, May 28, 2020, 6:11:02 AM MDT, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

George Floyd's death sparks demonstrations in Minneapolis, Memphis, and Los Angeles
The death of George Floyd continued to ripple across the U.S. on Wednesday night with protests in Minneapolis, Memphis and Los Angeles.

Read in USA TODAY: https://apple.news/A39Q0c4J9QZeQ4yLu2y2Qfg


Shared from Apple News

Sent from my iPhone

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Yoruba Affairs" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to yorubaaffairs+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/yorubaaffairs/F40CA827-3212-408F-A227-FDE81F17C98D%40austin.utexas.edu.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/1325400950.693948.1590673455424%40mail.yahoo.com.