The Massive Protests Against Institutional Police Racism And the Too Minimal Protest Response From Black men

by Kenray Sunyaru

Recently I was having a discussion with a Brother, a ‘Solid’ grassroots leader in Detroit who was giving his perspective on the massive George Floyd protests against institutional police racism; that the marches he’s been involved in there were not a lot of Black men protesting.

One point he raised to explain our absence is too many Black men are overwhelmed by personal survival; many drugging and drinking their wounds away, trying to fuck their wounds away, ego-tripping their wounds away; and shooting other wounded Black men to cathartically release their wounds away.

Regularly when I meet a cross-section of Black men greeting them by saying what’s going on with you, a common response is a sense of resignation “I’m just trying to stay out the way.” How are you going to stay out of the way of racism in America?

Also I hear a lot of so-called conscious Black men say protests are ineffective, yet these same Brothers aint engaging in self-determination to build institutions in our communities. 

These brothers must don't know that the Black Panther Party protested against police racist murdering of Black men. Moreover Malcolm X led a protest outside a New York City police station when a Black man was brutally beaten by racist police.

These Brothers say protesting aint about nothing spouting-off George Soros is controlling Blacks Lives Matter and the protests, yet they spend countless hours ineffectively debating religion that aint stopping racist police murders!

These are the same type of Brothers will tell you wearing masks to protect against COVID-19 is a conspiracy theory. As Black men what are we saying to our children, to our communities, to rest of the world, and to ourselves when we are sparsely participating in protests we should be leading.

I say Fuck George Soros, we should be protesting against racist police murders because it’s personal! Racist police have killed our Paternal Ancestors, killed our Black male Leaders, killed our Grandfathers, killed our Fathers, killed Our Brothers, killed our Black Boys, killed our male Cousins, and killed our male Friends – the BOTTOM LINE!!!!!!!!

Black Lives Matter: Some thoughts on ANKH and Wearing Masks During This COVID-19 Pandemic

by Kenray Sunyaru

Thousands of years before there was a slogan ‘Black Lives Matter’, our Ancient Afrikan Nile Valley Ancestors had a supreme symbol representing that their Black lives mattered the ‘ANKH’ which means the ‘KEY of LIFE’. 

Our Ancient Afrikan Ancestors overstood and understood that their LIFE was KEY; that their Black lives definitely mattered’, that their lives were indeed ‘Sacred’ and ‘Immortal! Our Ancient Afrikan Ancestors came to realized that ‘ANKH’ the KEY of LIFE is 'LIFE' itself; that LIFE ‘emanates’ from LIFE, that LIFE ‘begets’ LIFE, that LIFE ‘sustains’ LIFE, and that LIFE ‘protects’ LIFE! 

From my philosophical-spiritual view the KEY of LIFE is Knowing, Breathing, Nourishing, Moving, Growing, Valuing, Appreciating, Respecting, Remembering, Venerating, Determining, Building, Preserving, and Defending.

Regarding the defending ‘Protecting’ aspect of the KEY of LIFE from a health perspective, our LIFE inherently protects itself by the way of its ‘immune system’ that defends itself from infections. In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic as Black folks we have been dying super-disproportionately from this potent infectious virus that causes multi-organ failure. 

Due to institutional racism and massively having pre-existing medical conditions (chronic diseases) that compromises our health which has weakened our immune system ability to protect us from COVID-19. 

To both protect and recover from COVID-19 we must boost our immune system holistically: spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically (diet, exercise). We must also protect our lives and others by wearing masks! 

Unfortunately, I see a lot of younger Black adults under 40 ignorantly and carelessly not wearing masks who are infecting others deadly. However I know some Blacks in this age group who say they are ‘health conscious’ not wearing masks.

These individuals diet and exercise to boost their immune systems to protect themselves from COVID-19 but don’t wear masks to protect themselves; in other words they throw a health punch but they don’t want to block an infectious punch, this is contradictory behavior because in a fight you have to 'punch' and 'block'!!

Black folks speaking from ‘ANKH’, when you are truly health conscious you know it is key to protect your LIFE from all health social detriments from racism to health illiteracy. Needing to wear a mask aint no conspiracy theory, we’re dying super-disproportionately from COVID-19 and it’s for real, just ask somebody who’ve lost love ones. 

For us right now during this coronavirus pandemic wearing a mask matters, it’s a key aspect in protecting Black lives.

Reflections on the HBO Documentary Movie ‘The Scheme’ and Being ‘COMPROMISED’

by Kenray Sunyaru

This Blog post was influenced by an HBO documentary movie I recently watched ‘The Scheme’ which is basically a profile piece on Christian Dawkins a young Black man from Saginaw, Michigan.

Dawkins was the center of an expensive FBI sting operation to so-called stop corruption in NCCA college basketball by bringing down some high profile white coaches. Dawkins was from my perspective a basketball guidance consultant guiding talented mainly Black basketball players from middle-school to high-school through college and into the NBA.

Dawkins became an essential ally for college coaches, not just offering advice but encouraging his players to go to certain schools; none of what Dawkins was doing was illegal. Because of his connection to major college coaches the FBI targeted Dawkins as key to becoming an ‘informant' to entrap some high profile college basketball coaches by offering them money ‘bribes’. The FBI’s operation never indicted any of these prominent major white college coaches, most of the individuals they indicted were lower-level Black men including Dawkins.

As I watched ‘The Scheme’, I thought about so many FBI successful schemes they’ve come up with to indict Black men from Marcus Garvey to Kwame Kilpatrick; from indicting the Black Panthers to the Black P-Stone Nation: political organizations to street organizations and everything in between; from the indictment of Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown) to Larry Hoover. As I watched ‘The Scheme’ one word kept ringing in my head was ‘COMPROMISE’.

Being ‘COMPROMISED’: A Man Can Only Ride Your Back If It’s Bent Over

The word ‘COMPROMISE’ means to reduce the quality, value, or degree of something; it means to weaken or lower. Thus from this definition Black folks we have been a ‘COMPROMISED’ people under 400 years of white supremacy.

Yes racial oppression has 'COMPROMISED' a whole people; it has weakened a whole nation of people through forced Denial, Doubt, Dependency, Deprivation, Debt, Detentions, Drugs, Diseases, and Deaths. Just take a look at our ‘Diseases’ and ‘Deaths’ from the current COVID-19 Pandemic, we are ‘COMPROMISED’ with pre-existing medical conditions (chronic diseases) dying super-disproportionately from this killer Coronavirus.

Indeed as I watched The Scheme I had to admit that the over-whelming majority of Black men are ‘COMPROMISED’ and that’s why the FBI’s oppressive scheme operations against us have been successful. Most of us are ‘COMPROMISED’ due to Ignorance, Ego-Tripping, Self-Defeating Beliefs, Corrupt Values, Character Flaws, Individualism, Opportunism, Hypocrisy, and Addictions just to name a few.

In the movie Christian Dawkins was 'COMPROMISED' by a huge ego-sense of being financially successful. Being ‘COMPROMISED’ one is always vulnerable to be manipulated by the FBI, one can be used as a ‘cats-paw’, one can become an informant and infiltrator; being ‘COMPROMISED’ one is always a potential ‘SELL-OUT’.

Black folks and Black men in particular until we do the inner-work of ‘UNCOMPROMISING’ ourselves we will continue to be pawns in the FBI’s schemes against us. ‘UNCOMPROMISING’ is the process of ‘internal reparations’. Let us remember the words of the great African revolutionary Amilcar Cabral: “The greatest enemy of an oppressed people are their own internal weaknesses."

The Plight of Black Men and Ra-Ubadiah Hotep Who Cared About Us

by Kenny Anderson

From my experience as a Black man and what I’ve seen, the life-span of the majority of us as Black men in racist America whatever the ending age has been a constant grind that’s distressing and exhausting. Living for Black men in this country is a tiring battle; psychologist refer to it as ‘racial battle-fatigue’.

Black men we live each day knowing that we can be murdered by racist law enforcement officers like the recent police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota; that Black men can be murdered by all types of racist white men and other non-Black males; that they can be murdered by other Black men; yes Black men we live with a ‘bulls-eye’ on our chests, it’s always open-season on us!

Black men we live everyday being ‘male-bashed’ by so many Black women and non-Black females, this male-bashing causes too many of our children and grandchildren to disrespect us. Black men we live under a barrage of being unappreciated, devalued, disgusted, slighted, blamed, accused, suspected, investigated, discriminated, rejected, neglected, stunted, marginalized, hunted, attacked, murdered, victimized, and traumatized.

All the chronic stress Black men face every day causes many of us to die prematurely from heart attacks and strokes; while many of us seek daily temporary relief through drugs, alcohol, sex, religion, ego-tripping, or zoned out in sports land. Many Black men try to find a ‘space’ in the house generally in the basement ‘man cave’ to debrief and relax from relentless stress.

Ra Ubadiah Hotep His Open House: An Oasis in the Distressed Desert

For decades in Pontiac, Michigan Ra Ubadiah Hotep who recently became an Ancestor was a conscious cultural facilitator and Black male advocate who provided distressed Black men with much-much more than just a man cave; he opened up his home on Fridays for decades as a space where Black men could come relax, rejuvenate, recreate, and redevelop themselves.

Ra Ubadiah Hotep's open-house was known informally as the ‘Omni Development Space Complex’ (ODSC) a cultural free space likened to the safe houses of the Underground Railroad. The safe houses of the Underground Railroad were spaces where our enslaved Ancestors could stay and hide; food and clothing was provided as well as a bed to sleep on.

Ra Ubadiah Hotep’s ‘Omni Development Space Complex’ represented a contemporary Underground Railroad 'free space' that facilitated the ‘all’ in the sense of avant-garde jazz music therapeutic expression, promoted learning an instrument, promoted learning Black History, enhanced a sense of Brotherhood, encouraged creative expressions (poetry) and polemic rap sessions, use of herbs and herbal remedies, and provided nutritious meals (navy beans with smoke turkey and cornbread).

Black men looked forward weekly to come through ODSC; local Black auto workers who played instruments would come through after a stressful day of work, musicians would come through, Black male college students from Oakland University would come through, conscious Black men came through, and a variety of other Black men came through ODSC.

Ra Ubadiah Hotep was an embodiment of 1960’s Black Nationalism & Cultural Nationalism that he kept alive so we could be connected to this super-important classic period. Ra Ubadiah Hotep left an indelible mark on me by exposing me to the writings of the great Black Panther revolutionary George Jackson who matured my thinking and sharpened my political ideology.

Ra Ubadiah Hotep would send many Brothers hand-written letters including writing many in jail and prisons; he was a surrogate father-figure for many younger Black males. Ra Ubadiah Hotep was an avid reader and was constantly recreating himself to his death.

About a month ago I talked with Ra Ubadiah Hotep for several hours, our conversation focused on Kemetic spirituality and its funerary ritual that he requested I conduct for him. In the Kemetic funeral ritual the deceased heart was weighed on scale before Ancestral jurors. Indeed Ra Ubadiah Hotep’s heart was with the overall betterment and wellbeing of Black men, thus our Paternal Ancestral jurors’ judgment is that they are pleased with his heart!

Ra Ubadiah Hotep is now an Ancestor to be constantly remembered through portraits of him on walls and altars; his birthday becomes a holiday celebration; and libations poured consistently in his name. As Black men we thank you for caring about us, in your memory let us extend your legacy by continuing to care about the welfare of Black men. Much Love & Appreciation!!

Stop 'Sect-Trippin' Unite and 'Gang-Up' on Racial Oppression

by Kenray Sunyaru

Black folks in this brief post I will use the terms ‘gangs’ and ‘sects’ interchangeably. From my perspectives sect is a word which conjures up many different emotions, opinions, and perspectives; for me a sect is a group of Black people who share a particular set of political, gang, or religious beliefs.

These sects believe their particular sect’s interests is greater than the overall interests and struggle of Black people resulting in narrow-minded partisanship which is ‘divisive’ preventing operational unity; in the case of Black ‘gang’ sects this division is often hostile leading to a constant cycle of violence and murders.

Where are all the Black ‘gangsters’ when it comes to defending the hood from racist attacks and murders like the recent killing of Ahmaud Arbery? When are all these Blacks sects of all kinds going to come together to ‘bang’ on racial oppression?

Racist Murders of Black Men From 'Walking While Black' to 'Jogging While Black'

by Kenray Sunyaru

  "White men are experts in killing Black men" - Malcolm X

Black men y'all remember in Florida 2012 the racist George Zimmerman followed an 'unarmed' Black boy Trayvon Martin and murdered him for ‘Walking While Black’.

Recently in Georgia a white man 'ex-police officer' Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael chased down an 'unarmed' Black man Ahmaud Arbery like a deer and murdered him for ‘Jogging While Black’; these murderous white men were never arrested nor detained!!

Black folks, a Black man being a murder victim while jogging aint nothing new! In 1999 ex-University of Detroit basketball coach Ricky Birdsong an 'unarmed' Black man jogging near his home in Skokie, Illinois with his son and daughter ages 8 and 10 was murdered by Benjamin Nathaniel Smith, a member of the white supremacist Creativity Movement.

Indeed Black men we need to hear ‘some’ many more stories about armed Black men who defend themselves killing murderous white men. When many more of these stories occur white men will think twice about running up on us.

Black Men Lead in Dying From COVID-19 Deaths

by Kenray Sunyaru

Black men when we usually think of the Ebonic phrase "being caught slipping" it means not having a gun in your possession possibly resulting in being shot or robbed by another Black man. 

This time in a viral sense we’ve been caught slipping by the COVID-19 disease pandemic because our health was ‘slacking’ so our lungs are being attacked and shot through by the virus.

Unfortunately but expectedly due to racism and health irresponsibility as Black men we lead the U.S. in COVID-19 disease deaths. Our deplorable health slacking status in America has been an urgency racial health disparity issue for us to address for many-many decades. 

Black men are dying disproportionately to the COVID-19 virus pandemic

This COVID-19 pandemic has now fully exposed our slacking health neglect and fragilness as an emergency that's taking us out. Too many of us neglected our health pursuing expensive clothes, shoes, jewelry, and vehicles. 

Previously, the only deaths we were focusing on was Black-on-Black male murders which is important, however we weren't focusing on chronic diseases that have been killing Black men off hundreds of times greater than Glocks, AKs, Dracos, and AR-15s. 

Black men millions of us have been 'laid down' prematurely by Heart Disease, Strokes, Diabetes, etc. Yeah we've been focusing on Black homicidals, but not on our suicidal health slacking. 

For all the Black men out here who consider themselves rough-neck, hard-core, thug, and gangsters none of these 'tough identities' can protect y'all from COVID-19; add some health awareness to y'all's identity! 

To Black men who smoke cigarettes and marijuana every day y'all need to quit to save y'all's lungs; smokers are more vulnerable to contract the virus. Y'all need to learn about y'all's lungs and respect y'all's ability to breathe, cause COVID-19 is a 'dog-ass' breath taker for real!

Indeed the COVID-19 upheaval is a time of reckoning and resolution; it's a time for realization that the American system nor us in the past or the present have addressed the Black male health crisis. 

Now in this COVID-19 pandemic we're not dying from 'drive-bys', we're dying from 'airbornes'. Our current Black male health slacking crisis is what Rapper Kendrick Lamar stated when he rapped: "For generations we've been dealt a bad-hand with bad-plans."

As Black men during this COVID-19 pandemic let us now deal ourselves a 'good-hand', developing ourselves a lifestyle changing personal health plan!