Monday, June 30, 2008

The Movement

Slow the banner we march behind
We keep the slogan from ever dying
I move the world true to time
revolution is on my mind

should archeologists have bones to find
and it be dwellings of the quelled they’re dwelling
let them follow the fists aligned where
I feel in my bones I am already

hell and heaven once combined to space
a life apart for my conscious state
till I wrote The People into my will
for control over where we’ll go from here

So see you around in a hundred years
though at times The Movement dissipates
the dreams of fathers defer to sons
The Revolution awaken to liberate


-Tone.Are

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

How Barak Obama's presidency will transform the United States of America

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...2008...
The tipping point!



Before you fix your assumptions on a reading that's going to go from optimistic to grandiose let me put this out front: If there were ever anything said by John McCain more true than his claim that "Barack Obama is just a typical politician" i haven't heard it.
Is this to say "Barack Obama is just a typical politician"? not exactly. Everytime the man goes out onto a podium he transcends what we know as your "typical politician"... and if you think i mean it is because of his gift to word a speech so precise, on the fine values-policy line we've seen everyone but him - up until now either fall off the edge of or come up short before in appealing to EVERYBODY, then let me rephrase that:
Everytime the man wakes up he transcends what we know to be a "typical politician", not because he is Black, or Young, or Handsome, or honest, or charismatic, or intelligent, or progressive, ALTHOUGH in any given post i can give you 5000 words about why each of these in it’s own relative way IS indication that he isn't your "typical politician".



I only co-sign that 'If there were ever anything said by John McCain more true ... i haven't heard it' because it is THE TRUEST thing he has ever said.
Heck, George Bush once said:
"I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together."
Is that a true statement? umm wait a minute... well if what he meant was... ugh, no, no it's not. NO! But sh!t, for Bushie, it was like he was alllmost there. Not quite true, but the truest thing I'VE ever heard HIM say!

And because we wont have to wait too long after his inauguration on January 20th, 2009, before Ol Barry reveals himself as just another politician, not only has McCain essentially made his truest comment, but one which will someday hold validity, so shall we call it prophetic?
**NOT SO FAST... Hillary beat him to it! She'd been setting the -I told you so- down like hot coals the final four or five months of her bid**

Let me correct our _dear_ president on this one
Leadership is the ability to bring people together.


Which leads me to the reason why Barack Obama is NOT your "typical politician", at least for now, and really all factors considered having less to do with doings of his own than with those of The People!
Don't get it twisted, i'm not on that bring 'em up to bring 'em down envy tip. Obama has earned his keep. The man is brilliant. But let's be honest: You can only make so much change when your support is the very structure of power you promise to compromise! If anything we've only seen Obama compromise HIMSELF and sadly, the will of his popular base as time has gone on. And to a point I do not knock him, because ultimately it brings me clear on what he is trying to do… become the President of the United States. And you don’t become the President of the United States if you are Barack Obama and you don’t denounce your faith when the power want to know if they’re ‘safe’- He’s gotta BE safe; if you don’t move the patrons whom might create a P.R. disaster if not clear from the camera’s range -He’s gotta keep distance. So I'm not salty about him compromising himself because I am not naïve on the probability that Obama had to really process and discipline the idea of what he’d need to do to put himself into position to win (and I aint so naïve to imagine it being anything less than a process facilitated with a team of advisors in the room neither).

…What? Do you think it didn’t occur to him that his name might/WILL be an issue? That his associations might/WILL arise? Come on! If he weren’t prepared for that mentally and politically he wouldn’t have made it this far. He might not have all the experience in the world but he’s been in the game long enough to know who he’s playing with!


When you google Obama’s voting record you find that he has been known to abstain from voting on controversial issues, and this has been scary to some and exciting for others. For those on ‘the left’ whom are readily able to stifle any magnetism towards the allure of the man & his movement, his record in securing nothing, secured hope! until he began to dismantle our utopic vision by cementing the logistics of his campaign in politics as we know it; first putting together a team of the same ol’ Washington to help him select the same ol’ Washington for his VP (The Washington I never really believed he’d manage to work outside of), then by sending everybody whom vowed to support his vision of independence from the corporate interests home with a thank you letter {foregoing public financing}, by basically putting his capacity to govern in corporate hands (This is not a Golden Childocracy! They are not going to fund him crawling forward on their knees with peasant offerings! These are the guys that pay for what they want (ahem), and make no mistake about it folks… this is money; these are gangsters)




But once again… this is not to say that Barack Obama is your “typical politician”. Not now at least. Because he REALLY HAS brought people together! I mean if you are not convinced by how powerful this man’s campaign is right now look no further than Oregon, where Senator Gordon Smith,A REPUBLICAN, is using Barak Obama *in a positive vein* in commercials for his own campaign. Sen Smith knows he needs to tap into this incredible mass of voters Obama continues to attract by the day. Barack has managed to mobilize a nation that is just jaded with the status quo: economically, politically, socially, culturally, etc. And if there is any irony (and irony often times really does reveal the truth) it is that Obama is running against McCain! John McCain, whom to many is the Barak Obama of the Republican Party when you are refering to being a ‘Maverick’ or ‘Renegade’ on policy. Yet and still McCain's candidacy is not enough to convince the masses of change. He is a white wig! Bush is a white wig! Hillary is a white wig! And if things get any harder for The People in this country, eventually elected officials in municipalities all around the country will become white wigs for their inability to lead in these times!

It is in light of this phenomenon that we are witnessing the beginning of a turn in the history of the United States of America. It is in light of this phenomenon that I am inspired to boldly declare that Obama, by winning CAN be a typical politician and still be credited, or his time in office can be credited (because this is more about The People and how we all deal with this time) for a psychological revolution in the social fabric of this nations universal consciousness. Now I know most are pessimistic, and I really cannot blame you, but you cannot doubt one simple fact. NOW… NOW… we will HAVE to deal with a blanketed issue in our society! NOW, emotions will reveal themselves, as they have been in the media and in the silent moments amongst your friends during Obama’s run at the office alone. We will have a BLACK leader, whom you can choose to accept or not (Hey, do what you wills.. it aint like I accept the guy in office now as MY leader!)


There will be a GREAT dialogue which many will use their privelege and space to illude, yet nobody will be able to go unexposed to (although there are some folk in the Appalachia whom may not get much exposure to an African American if even a television).
Yes Barack Obama will be a typical politician. And like a typical politician sometimes he will be on some BULLSHIT! and if there is one thing I trust about the man, it is his Will to move sh!t forward… so he will have his good legacy as well. And many white people (whether of Asian, European, Mid Eastern, Latino..) will get frustrated. And many black people (whether of Asian, European, Mid Eastern, Latino..) will be proud. And little will change along the lines of poverty, the environment, war, health care (sh!t is like on some contractual level folks… this is a wait your turn system: nobody gives up privelege willingly **unless of course you aint always trying to play by the rules**)
But after this is all said and done there will be MAJOR gains in the level of respect with which we deal with one another in the streets, in the home, at work.
That, or brace yourself for something ugly…



-ToneAre



Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Does racism have anything to do with Willie Randolph's firing?

6/17/08




"Willie had to go! Team has a $140 million payroll and they're playing under .500! To say it had anything to do with race is ridiculous!"

"With last years collapse and the inconsistancies which have played out over the course of the first half, anybody's job would've been in jeopardy; Black, White, Yellow, Blue; Whatever!"

"It had nothing to do with race. In the Mets you have a world championship calaber team. Yes the team is as much to blame for it as the coach is, and we must hold Minaya accountable as well. But the manager has always been the first to go, and Willie's time was up."

"Give me a break! The man who fired him was Dominican!"

.............................................................................




So Willie Randolph finally received the pink slip today (3am here in NY, midnight on the West Coast where he received orders to pack it up). And the quotes you read above (all mine *sorta -irony by the way is a literary device-) are the most common examples of what is going around the court of public opinion here and in the Baseball world. All statements with merit yet debatable on the issue of whether race had anything to do with Willie's fate.

Make no mistake about it.. Willie Randolph's status as Manager of the New York Mets was one which over the past few months has shaded over everybody, reguardless of race. He didn't have a dark cloud over him.. it was more like a forecast of passing clouds *lighting up, then darkening your face/ lighting up, then darkening your face. Mets rake the Yankees and for a week or two are on their glory, then lose three in a row to the Padres and skid for two weeks. Even here in my crib the consensus began to lean towards an inevitable goodbye! That's just how it is in professional sports today; the players are on top of the pecking order-much too valuable (monetarily) and often bounded to the team by contracts every slugger to ever drag spikes across the diamond needs to lay flowers on Curt Floods grave for forever securing them.

But was it Willie's time YET?
I am going to have to say no!

Now stepping outside of my analysis of this whole situation and considering it at a surface level it may sound a bit rediculous. But that is only because the 'surface level' has been influenced by the (Notorious New York media's) tightening of the leash on Willie for some time now, and so naturally, there has been this build up of anxiety amongst the Mets faithful over Willie's status. AND THAT FOLKS.. is where the race premise for Willie's down fall can no doubt be attributed.


-Is Major League Baseball an organization filled with talent of all cultures, colors, and features/body types amongst men? YES

-Is the New York Mets team comprised of a 'minority' majority? YES it is

-Did the Mets brass not hire the FIRST 'minority' GM to head the front office (Omar Minaya) and Willie as one of the first 10 black managers in MLB's century+ old history (Larry Doby, Maury Wills, Don Baylor, Cito Gaston, Lloyd McClendon, Dusty Baker, Jerry Manuel, Willie Randolph and Frank Robinson)?
No doubt! and that is why i have crossed over from the Bronx in allieging with the amazins!


When Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947 it could be said that the game solidified itself as America's Pastime. It lives amongst the 20th Centuries 5 most recognized moments for the assimilation of African Americans in the U.S. mainstream culture. And none of the other three mainstream sports (not Hockey, not Football, Basketball has a large black presence but i can count the number of people of color whom arent African American on my hands and feet) has such international participation on the American field of play. Yet i think we should all agree Baseball has a lonnnnng way to go! At one point Willie was the ONLY black manager in the game (when Dusty Baker and Frank Robinson were fired in '06) and this is some 3 decades after the first black manager took the dugout. (1 black manager out of 30 teams). I mean, i don't advocate for quotas but just for the sake of being progressive (why not my conservatives?) we must all agree we have a ways to go.



I blame the media because one must realize that professional sports, nor any other social entity operates in a vacuum or bubble! When society as a whole is ready to deal with sh!t.. that is when sh!t gets dealt with whether on the field or the oval office! And what central entity but 'the media' can we focus on to give a better reading about where our society is at?

And i will tell you where we are at!

With the NY METS Bobby Valentine didn't make the playoffs till 1999; he had been managing the Mets since '96, with his first full season being in '97. In 2000 they won the pennant but the following year (2001) they barely made .500, going 82-80. And although i am sure he was on the ropes with the media here in NY (They will eat ANYONE alive) he was allowed to manage the full 2002 season in which the Mets went 75-86. Over Bobby's tenure he always had one of the highest budgets in baseball to work with, and like the Mets under Willie, some of the markets best available players *though at times past their prime. Now, Bobby's record and Willie's record over the first three years (Willie only played three) were actually not too different.
So it baffles me as to why Willie took so much heat!


There has been an absolute FERVOR over Willie's status with the Mets and yes i understand, they had the worst collapse in history last year and are under .500 now. But all things considered, Willie is a good Manager (HIS WIN/LOST RECORD PERCENTAGE IS 2nd IN METS HISTORY TO DAVIE JOHNSON). Why not just allow him to finish the season, and if he caps it off having underachieved, then discuss whether or not to bring him back??? If it wasn't a bad decision it certainly was disrespectful/demeaning. I mean, the guy didn't crawl out from under a rock! He was a Yankee great on the field, and spent years coaching third base under Joe Torre.
I do not recall a Manager going through what Willie has gone through over the past month in all my years watching the game.

In the midst of all of this we have Omar Minaya, who has played into the whip cracking, let me save my ass by overcompensating for the fact that i am Latino and come down hard on my darker brother role (like police in the hood). I saw it last year, when after the collapse he began his shady politics, putting the question of Willie's status over the winter out there, and letting it linger. And here we go again. In fact, the only time i ever really see Omar's face is when he pulls his belt up to make an example out of Willie in the open. The most honorable thing he could have done (Being that he will no doubt be going as well if the Mets dont make the playoffs), is ride this year out with Willie and if they should lose.. leave with Willie. But he had to play himself. You want proof that this is all to preserve his standing with 'the good ol boys' just watch his conference held in Anaheim the day Willie was fired and count how many times he feels obligated to say "IT WAS MY DECISION, nobody elses! I JUST WANT EVERYBODY TO KNOW THAT THE DECISION WAS MINE" I'm just saying.. count the amount of times!


I am not going to blame Omar though because the Media (and in turn Society *as represented in the Media) puts the fire to his ass too (I'm pretty sure that even Omar knows changing Managers will do little to change things if the players don't take it upon their QUALIFIED SELVES to step it up! It's like this one guy said: "What more can you do to motivate a guy making millions of dollars?"). In a small town market sh!t like this doesn't happen (probably because they don't have such a large media market, and thus do not have that dog-eat-dog uber-competitiveness). If a team stinks, they stink and the city rides with them till the end of the year; no drastic decisions mid-season.


Do i feel like there have been sportscasters out to get Willie?. NO! everybody loves Willie Randolph; how could you not? The guy is a class act. My assessment of this situation is not on any individual or any conscious agenda. It is infact a subtle SUBCONSCIOUS demon which we have a long way to go before we conquer, rearing its head here in New York City. It is a clever demon, as it is able to form behind just as many institutional covers as a racist individual has excuses. And it has no bias about whom it transmits through... White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, we have all been conditioned to succumb to it's breath and we all breath it, as it builds in the crowd (You know what crowds can lead an otherwise good individual to do.. i mean i'm sure even Jesus tippy-toed abound a crowd or two to catch an over the shoulder glimpse of a stoning in his life time). It is indeed, Racism.
I know because it is a feeling. And if you can allow yourself to not be so reactionary in jumping to denial.. don't take it as an offense but as a possible sin which still lingers in our nature... then you will attest.


__Do you feel something was a bit awkward about how quick this happened?
About how it went about?
__Can you recall it happening like this before?
__Are there many failing coaches? Of them, does this happen often after three consecutive winning seasons?

Think about it


We all had the measuring tape out
We were all watching very closely
And we all began to have this strange urge we weren't wholly aware of, to be the first to predict that he wouldn't jump high enough!


And i think most of us are now
kind of sorry about it


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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Teacher fired for being "Too Afro-Centric"

They won't stop us!







From Ms. Karen Salazar:


Peace fam,

i'm writing to ask for your support. As most of you know, i have been teaching English at Jordan High School (Watts) for the past two years. In my two years here, i have had several "run-ins" with administration, and now the latest – i was informed last month by the principal that he will not renew my contract for the next school year. In LAUSD terms, a non-renewal of contract equals i've been fired. I'm not being transferred, i'm simply no longer able to work in LAUSD. The good news, though, is that i have only been given verbal notification, but have not yet received anything in writing. I have until June 30th to pressure the principal into reversing this decision.

I'm asking for your support not because i'm facing losing my job, but because it sets a dangerous precedent for progressive / critical educators. I am not being fired because i have failed to teach the state standards (none of my evaluations negate the fact am teaching to the standards). I am being fired because i am trying to ensure that my curriculum is relevant to my students' daily lived experiences, and in the process, create a space for them to be critical of Eurocentric society and curricula that only serve to reinforce their dehumynization, subjugation, and oppression.

Many of you have been forwarding messages about the Arizona bill that seeks to end Raza Studies and MEChA, and while my situation is not as large scale, it is still an attack on the quality, culturally-relevant education Students of Color deserve. I have been harassed by administration since last school year for my alleged encouragement of "militancy" among students. Last year there was a group of students, called the Watts Student Union, who began organizing themselves and created a list of demands they presented to the school and district. The administration did not think students were capable (smart enough?) of organizing themselves and articulating their demands on their own, so another colleague and i were accused of being the real "masterminds" behind their work.

This year, administration has continued their vendetta against me. I have been observed in the classroom and evaluated by administration over a dozen times (almost twice a month) this school year, whereas in comparison, most teachers are observed and evaluated 1-3 times per school year. The evaluations claim that i am creating "militancy" within students, promoting my personal political beliefs, and presenting a biased view of the curriculum. It has also been implied that i have been teaching students "how to protest."

Three weeks ago, things began escalating when i was again observed, and in his evaluation, the administrator accused me of "brainwashing" my students and "forcing extremist views" on them. The class had been reading a 3-page excerpt of the Autobiography of Malcolm X (an LAUSD-approved text, of which we have several class sets in our school bookroom), in which Malcolm describes the first time he conked his hair. Since then, i have been observed and evaluated two additional times (which makes a total of three times in as many weeks), and during one of those observations, an administrator sat in my class for 45 minutes and proceeded to interrogate me about the lesson. When i showed him the textbook from which the lesson was directly taken, he remained unsatisfied and continued to question me about it. Both students and an aide who was present told me afterwards that they felt extremely uncomfortable with his behavior.

It is important for me to point all of this out because while there has been much talk of teachers being laid off due to the impending budget cuts, my dismissal has nothing to do with budget cuts. My contract is being terminated because according to the principal, i am "indoctrinating students with anti-Semitism and Afrocentrism." The anti-Semitism accusation comes solely from the fact that i have an Intifada poster hanging in my classroom (a symbol of support for a free Palestine), and the Afrocentrism accusation comes from the fact my culturally-relevant curriculum reflects the demographics of my students, though i am surprised i am not being accused of Raza-centrism as well. My students have already begun to organize themselves and their parents. Several other teachers have also expressed their support and are now collecting signatures for a petition to renew my contract. The Association of Raza Educators (ARE) is also in full solidarity and is supporting students and parents in their efforts. i am hoping that you will support me as well.

Right now, we're hoping that simple community pressure will be enough to send a clear message that our communities support culturally-relevant curricula and will not stand for teachers being reprimanded, particularly to this degree, because of their implementation of such a curriculum. The contact information for key school and district players is provided below. If you're able to, please come through to the protest students are organizing for this Thursday, June 5th at 3:30pm in front of the school.While i recognize that i am still a new teacher, and i have much more growth and development ahead of me, i love my students with my entire being. I teach because i have no alternative but to struggle against the dehumynization of people i love, and i refuse to be complicit in the teaching of values and ideas that contribute to that dehumynization. I am ready and willing to fight this until the end, no matter the outcome, and i am hoping you will have my back and my students' backs in this fight, even if it means taking it out of the boardroom and into the streets.


Thank you in advance for your support!
Justicia!
Karen Salazar-Reyes
Teacher, Jordan High School
Association of Raza Educators

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

So Here We *Are

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Hello my brilliant people,


It's been a long time/ that i've left you/ waiting...

check me out on Myspace: www.myspace.com/Toneare and www.myspace.com/Reversera

_So what are we? a decade into the blogging craze? and NOW i create a page right?
Yea yea, i know! All these years and the mine of valuable information and insight i've released from in sparce trajections, FINALLY to present itself. Perhaps this is a right of passage of some sorts and i am finally stepping to the vanguard before the people (sans black robes of course).

I am a writer (i think), educator (in my own right), thinker (certainly); un hombre sincero (if nothing else). And it all started this morning when i found myself in one of my conjested stalemate states of artistry/ prophesy (why not), in which i accrue like four days of deep thoughts and commit all intentions to putting it on a page; and of course go limp.
And in hindsight of the word blog flying across my ears and eyes over that same span of time (have you seen the commercial where the dude is totally zoned out, staring blankly at his date rambling on politics across the table from him? yea that one.. when he asks her to his room *she dead pans*- "We can blog" *she cheers*), i decided:
Why wait? why promise to put it all in some sort of historic manifesto to make passage through a printing press? I mean what good to others is a passage that doesn't leave my own head? Why not just share it here? I mean does a book validify my thoughts anymore than a scroll or even writings in the sand? Because certainly the odds that i have access to more people through this blog, than by pushing a manuscript on the streets or even the market are far greater... I'd like to hope.. at this point!

What you will find should you subscribe to my postings, is that i will come across modest most times, yet every now and then will go out on the limb to stand on the shoulder of giants whom took risks in their words and actions (you will also come across and often glimpse past streaks of wordplay and other poetics: see the line you've just glimpsed past). If i ever come off full of sh!t i ask that you excuse me.. i mean, what Latino doesn't run up the meter every once in awhile? going just an entonce too far to make some point he or she would take back if they could set this shit in replay?

Self righteous? I'd rather cede to something more like ambitious! Me!
Tony Rivera: Tone Ri(Verse)era, Reverse Era
Tony Rivera: Tone R.
Tone R: Tone Are (Because while i am, i cant be without you, so in essence We Are)
Tone.Are: Tone Reverse Era (Because im fitna do my part to flip these times)
reverse Era and it spells Are

Tone.Are


What you will find is that i do not allege to/ or at least i try not to allege to any strict ideology or creed, and i do not identify with any label which might constrict me, a man of various convictions to any set of people based on one or two shared beliefs. So basically i would argue to differ from any observation of the writings herein that might indicate to the observer that i am Liberal, Conservative, Right Wing, Left Wing, a Radical, Sexist, a Tree Hugger, a Racist, Gay, Straight, a Capitalist, a Communist, or Other (although i would probably cosign with you on other) .
For example: I often disagree with my family/friends on the following issues concerning women:

  • They feel tattoos on the arm are not for women; I happen to like them.
  • They feel a women should 'keep' herself, and this often includes for them the straightening of the hair, make up, 'feminine' footwear, etc... I tend to like it when a woman has a style of her own, or even a conventional style, yet carries it like no one other. And by the way: happy trails on the stomach FUKKIN SEXY! (please though.. do bathe daily)
  • I do tend to allow a women into the door first, but thats me. I do not neccessarily believe you are fukked up if you are a man and avoid being chivalrous.
  • I personally do believe aborting a fetus is unnatural and violates our human and spiritual balance, yet if something fukked up happend (you were raped for example) and you feel it will keep your emotional, psychological balance i can't knock you (although i may still disagree). Still i do not agree the government has any right to regulate such a personal decision (I do feel it is a decision which should rest on both parents though, if they are in fair standing. Sorry ladies, but men have rights too.)
  • I love pornography; I do not love prostitution (yet my gripe is not against the women on this, neither the men necessarily. Somebody's body becomes a material asset, you must ascribe that to a mentality which flows with a social current. Thus it is a socio-economic phenomena and in my view, problem). In fact my vacation to DR would be an ass whooping get-a-way rather than a week in paradise (THAT in turn, would be on the men!).

"BUT WAIT! Based on your premise for what is wrong with prostitution, wouldn't pornography also be a socio-economic problem?"

Damn

True!

Nobody is perfect. I have problems like anybody else. And i can be wrong like anybody else. My point is though, that i am a spokesman for ME. And ME was born out of a blend of experiences and teachings and paradigms and lexicons and schools of thought and schools of bull shit and dreams and failures. Not saying that i do not wish to be held accountable for my own actions/ statements, but there are influences all around us whether negative or possitive and it is natural to draw in flux with this. Not to mention, i can give you a million examples on how i am fighting social conditioning on a daily basis (as you should be).

I keep on, i keep strong. The past is of me and i strive to learn myself. At this point all that matters is the future, the now, the now that has just passed 6 words before the last 'passed' being apart of me for the now that comes next because we passed another now 6 words before the 'passed' i just passed. So i set my sights on the future that matters to me, prepared for every now that comes to see me everlasting. And if you can agree that we are everlasting than doesn't it make sense that we aspire to evolve together in suiting this space for our accompanying breath? What would Tao say? What would Jesus say? What would Che say? or Ben Franklin? or Dorothy Day? Nina Simone what would she say?

Here's what i say...