Open Letter to Charlamagne

#AmplifyDrCurry #BreakfastClubBooks

“I am on the front page of twitter this morning, and was trending all last night, because women of color collectively came together to slander my black ass. That’s power!… Anything women of color put their hands on, via social media, whether it’s putting their hands on it in a good way, or negative way, amplifies it. So don’t you think we could do the same for an online news network?”

~Cthagod — Donkey of the Day Apology; December 7, 2016

The Makings of a Transboycott

For those of you who weren’t buried under a rock for the past week, it’s likely you caught wind of the online transboycott launched against, iHeartRadio’s, The Breakfast Club (read: Charlamagne tha God). What started as a distasteful joke from Atlanta-based Comedian, Lil Duval, ended with the notorious radio host, Cthagod, being placed on the hot seat. While the boycott was billed as a protest against the entire morning show, much of the vitriol from protesters was directed towards the self-proclaimed, Prince of Pissing People off. You may disagree with this assertion, but then you’d have to explain the subsequent events that transpired over the weekend.

Let’s start with Lil Duval as an example:

After making his “transmisogynistic” comments on The Breakfast Club, the comedian went on to headline a 4-night gig in one of the most well organized trans-communities in the United States, New York City. If you had to guest the number of protesters who showed up to protest the comedian, or the hosting venue, what would it be?

I’ll wait…

For those of you who guessed a big fat doughnut (i.e. Zero, Zilch, Nada, Zip), you are absolutely correct.

Now let’s follow Cthagod across the country to Pasadena, CA:

Unfortunately ladies and gentlemen, the ruler of rubbing you the wrong way, didn’t fare so well. While serving as a guest panelist at Politicon, the radio host was bum-rushed by trans-activist, Ashlee Marie Preston, and Black Lives Matter, co-founder, Patrisse Cullors.

At this point, you’re probably asking yourself, why is Charlamagne being crucified for Duval’s trans-gressions (this ni**a aint Jesus!)? To the naked eye this may appear to be the case (not the Jesus part), but if that’s all you took away from last weeks transboycott, you’ve completely missed the mark.

Don’t worry, I’ll help you make sense of it all, I brought receipts.

If you’ve been following the BlackTwitter rumblings over the past few years, there’s been a constant drum of anti-Black misandry present on the timeline. The common theme from this band of misandrists has been, “Black Men are Trash”, but generally speaking, any tweet with the phrase “CisHet BM” is preaching to the choir.

The intelligent question to ask at this point is, when did this whole BlackTwitter Gender war begin?

The social media gender war accompanied the rise of hashtag activism (i.e. woke twitter), which started in response to the police killings of Black men. Black Lives Matter, an organization founded by three queer Black women, was then christened by the mainstream media, as the new civil rights leadership for Black people (Read: ‘BLUHACK PEEPO’ — Mistress Leevil Voice).

Just kidding. This really isn’t a joking matter…

For roughly the last 3 years of Obama’s presidency, #BLM served as the State-approved resistance movement for Black: queer and trans folks; disabled folks; Black-undocumented folks; folks with records; women; and all Black lives along the gender spectrum.

Noticeably absent from the BLM organizational literature, is any direct mention of the words “Black Men”.

You may think this a peculiar oversight, given the fact that the movement was built on the bullet-riddled bodies of Black Men — But the truth of the matter is, the marginalization of Cisgendered, Heterosexual, Black men was a very intentional act by the founders of the org. At the recent 2017 Socialism Conference, the conference planners celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Combahee River Collective (A Black Feminist Lesbian Organization). During the anniversary panel discussion, Barbara Ransby, CRC co-founder, praised BLM for having radical Black feminism, as it’s “ideological bedrock”.

This would explain why one year after the founding of BLM, Black men were completely thrown under a bus being fueled by their bodies. On July 24, 2014 (7 days after the murder of Eric Garner, and 16 days before the killing of Mike Brown), Kimberly Foster, Founder of For Harriet, led the charge to officially demote the relevance of Black Male death. In her view, the public lynchings of Black men were taking away from the conversation Black women were having around Street Harassment.

“In recent weeks, Black women have launched campaigns to ensure that we can exist in public without experiencing harassment and have presidential endorsement of policy that addresses our specific needs… I, myself, have spent hours trying to explain to otherwise thoughtful, intelligent men why wearing a tight dress is not sending an invitation to harassment.”

This was literally the equivalent of a white person responding to #BLM outcry with the question: What about Black on Black violence? Unfortunately for us, the ruse worked. Shortly after the Ferguson uprisings, the public conversation around Black male vulnerability completely shifted to the myth of the Black male oppressor.

What does this have to do with Charlamagne?

It has everything to do with him, as he himself is a “Violent Black male oppressor”. In the BLM era, Charlamagne tha God became a high profile target, for the movement, long before the Tomi Lahren debacle. The #GetCharlaOutThePaint campaign was being quietly waged since BLM gained MSM prominence. Tomi, however, became their first window of attack. Badly wounded from the onslaught, Cthagod kowtowed, and issued a public apology, for what may have been the 1st time in Breakfast Club history. This is no dig at Cthagod. Most ordinary folks don’t understand the underlying ideological drivers of this movement.

**Note: I’ll go into tedious detail to explain the ideological ethos in part 2 of this writing**

One of the most deeply held beliefs amongst this group, is that Black men benefit from an unearned societal privilege due to patriarchy. It is this idea that gets to the heart of the matter, and also renders layman completely defenseless against the attack.

Let me explain…

For those of you who asked earlier, why is Charlamagne being harangued in place of Lil Duval, the answer is simple: Duval is small potatoes, and Charlamagne is a prize elephant. One thing to keep in mind, the size of the opportunity will always trump the size of the offense. That is to say, we all agree that Duval’s comments were egregious, but there’s only but so far a Duval boycott can carry the intersectional message.

Charlamagne on the other hand has a very large, and expanding, crossover platform, which makes him a better target to carry bitter waters. The reality is, there is a deep-seated resentment towards all “CisHet” Black men, who occupy prominent spaces in mainstream, pop culture. The notion behind this anger is that Black men are “taking up space” that could be better filled by a Black woman. Given this ideological disposition, they have no qualms about shredding your sails, especially if you deny them access to your vessel.

We can’t fault Charlamagne for caving to their demands. During the Obama administration their were several high profile take downs of Black men occupying similar spaces. One such example was Nate Parker, with the highly anticipated release of the Nat Turner story, Birth of A Nation. Not only did intersectional feminists lead the charge to sank this ship, they openly bragged about the power of their online influence in doing so.

Whether or not Charlamagne respects their influence is a moot point. He clearly recognized the economic implications, and made the necessary concessions to douse the flame. This included offering up his platform as an ally to the movement, signal boosting Angela Rye as a Black woman media personality, and coming under the tutelage of King Crissles for intersectional guidance.

Where did Charlamagne go wrong?

“Black men are the number 2 cause of death for Black women under 50.”

~ Amber Phillips — Live on The Breakfast Club

His 1st mistake…

Issuing that apology was the equivalent of issuing a statement to the FBI. Once you begin to cooperate, they’ll have you by the balls forever (e.g. Al Sharpton).

His 2nd mistake…

Surrounding himself with a band of intersectional feminists, as advisors to the king. I understand that he was hit hard, and desperately needed to stop the bleeding, but you don’t make a career as the architect of aggravation by bending the knee.

His 3rd mistake…

Publicly embracing the intersectional-feminist philosophy, and allying himself with the LGBT movement.

You see, Charlamagne was in way over his head from the start. Each of the above actions, may have temporarily saved his brand, but the long term implications are harmful to both him, as an individual, and Black men collectively.

As an example…

In the wake of #TomiGate, Cthagod plucked two, little known (irl), Black feminists from obscurity, and introduced them to the Breakfast club audience. They used this opportunity to promote an ahistorical feminist myth, about the black male oppressor (i.e. Black men are the number 2 cause of death for Black women under 50). Being as though none of the Breakfast club hosts had the facts to dispute this claim, the seed was planted, and found fertile ground to flourish.

The above tweet was being promoted this weekend, 8/4/2017, 7-months after the Breakfast club interview.

Let me break this down for y’all real quick, so you can understand the bias, as well as the agenda behind it…

Unlike the blatant lie pushed by JL & AP on the Breakfast club, Baller Alert makes an accurate statement, but it’s purposefully misleading. Yes, Black women are murdered at higher rates than any other race due to intimate partner violence. But it is equally true that Black men are murdered at higher rates than any other race due to intimate partner violence. Reading this in context will point to the following logical conclusion: there must be some environmental factors that are plaguing the Black community, we should empirically study them, and develop solutions.

When you do like Baller Alert did, and publish these stats, out of context, a far more dangerous conclusion is drawn: Black men ARE the environmental factors plaguing the Black community. We need to develop methods to remove them from the environment. These half-truths, and whole-lies, are dangerous, and irresponsible. It paints a target on the backs of Black men, and justifies the societal hysteria that police, and the Zimmermans of the world have of us.

#BreakfastClubBoyCott

The Breakfast club morning show is currently the only national platform that we have to speak directly to ordinary black folks. It’s importance to our culture could never be overstated (Ask Hilary, she made sure to bring Hot Sauce to her interview). No matter what you think of Charlamagne, his personality has played a significant role in the morning show’s success. These attempts to Boycott the show are an attempt to censor Charlamagne, and destroy his career as a media personality.

In truth, the intended target of the Boycott is not the show’s sponsors, but rather the highly visible Black women in Charlamagne’s circle, giving him political cover from the intersectional crowd.

These women have been told very publicly to pick a side. The goal is to alienate him from any potential “allies”, that could speak to his character as a friend to the movement. Whether it’s Shea Moisture, Nate Parker, or Charlamagne the God, identifying as a CisHet black man puts you in opposition with the movement, because your identity in an of itself is considered oppressive.

The Silver lining

“Proximity to power deludes some into believing they wield it.” ~ Frank Underwood

The intersectional-feminist movement placed all it’s political capital behind, Democratic Party candidate, Hillary Clinton. 94% of Black women voted for her, and she still lost. This fact alone has called into question the Black women’s value to the Democratic establishment. Clearly, an appraisal was done for this constituency, because 8-months post election, intersectionality, and “identity-politics” are out, and the forgotten white voter is in.

In this environment, Black women are without a political home, but it’s taking a while for them to figure it out.

The “call-out” culture has made Black women a lot of enemies, and now that they don’t have the backing of the establishment, there’s not much bite, behind their bark.

I know what you’re thinking… Isn’t Kamala Harris Up next…

The answer to your question is, yes, and no. You see, they pretty much figure they can count on the Black women’s vote without working too hard to earn it; so don’t expect them to garner any political capital as a Kamala Harris voting bloc. The other important point, Kamala’s handlers have embraced a “not-to-black” strategy, and hashtag #BlackGirlMagic is alienating to the collective women’s voter bloc, especially the white Trump voters they’re looking to regain in 2020.

Here’s my point…

They’re not as powerful as you think they are. They only appeared to be powerful because they were standing on the shoulders of white supremacy. Identity politics, and intersectionality (PC culture) obliterated the Democratic Party platform, if Charlamagne isn’t careful, they’ll sink his as well.

Speaking directly to Charlamagne

Uncle Charla, you come from the streets, so you already know how this situation plays out. If you the dude that’s getting money, but the streets see you as weak, you gone need to write a check, or pay for some muscle of your own (lose-lose situation).

Since Jay Z is back in vogue, I’ll give you some classic HOV bars to drive this point home:

“ Once you’re tagged lame the game is follow the leader
Everybody want a piece of your scrilla, so you gotta keep it realer…”

~ Jay Z — Streets is Watching

I hate to be the one to tell you, Uncle Charla, but at this point, you’ve been “tagged lame”, and as the old folks used to say, “you can either shit, or get off the pot!”

My advice…

I’ll tell you, like my Grandma used to tell me, “Resist the devil and she’ll flea from you; bow, and you’ll serve her for ever.”

Call to Action: #AmplifyDrCurry

In conclusion, I believe that the Breakfast club is the most powerful voice that we have as a community. Which is why I started a constructive campaign to amplify Black Freedom writers that are denied access to Mainstream Medim outlets.

#BreakfastclubBooks

1. The goal of the hashtag is to serve as a collective indexing tool to highlight the works of younger Black writers, that lack high visibility, and the MSM backing necessary to a reach a broader audience.
2. The hope is that the hashtag will serve as a source for members of the breakfast club to identify new talented Black writers within our community, and assist them by bringing the authors on the Breakfastclub morning show.
3. Lastly, and this point especially relates to Dr. Curry, this campaign is away for us to acknowledge, and celebrate the role that freedom writers play in the struggle. For this point in particular, I’ll be using the hashtag #AmplifyDrCurry to shine light on his new academic polemic, which is a revolutionary work in humanizing Black men.

For those of you who don’t know Dr. Tommy Curry, think of him like this, Taxstone with a PhD.

For the past 8-years, Dr. Curry has been beating the drums of liberation for black men, women, and children. His uncompromising truth, supported by rigorous academic research, has made him a well-known target, on white-supremacists outlets such as the Alt-right, and INFOWars.

As a professor in the “Liberal” state of Texas, where college students are allowed to conceal carry on campus, Dr. Curry’s life is always under threat. In fact, he receives more hate mail, than he does papers from his students.

In addition to the white supremacist attacks, Dr. Curry has also come under attack for his attempts to Humanize Black men in the academy. One of the key points that he argues in this regard, is that Black people will accept a racist proposition (i.e. The Black male rapist, The Black male oppressor, Black men are inherently violent, etc.)as long as it’s coded using gender theory. This is a dangerous idea. Especially to those that have built their livelihood in the traffic of such tropes.

There has been a coordinated effort to prevent Dr. Curry’s scholarship from reaching a mainstream audience. The work of humanizing Black men in the Academy is resisted by every discipline. The fact that Dr. Curry has jeopardized his economic livelihood by taking on this fight, I believe that more people should be made aware, so he can receive the necessary support stand strong.

I look at his sacrifice, as equal to that of Colin Kaepernick’s protest of the National Anthem. The only difference is, the world know’s about Kap, and Dr. Curry is hidden away in the halls of the academy. At the least, he deserves the opportunity to be heard, and people can choose for themselves if his cause is worthy of their support.

**Final Note**

I’m asking each of my readers, to @cthagod using the hashtag #OpenLetterToCharlamagne , and request that he grant Dr. Curry an audience on the Breakfast club. Our community truly needs his voice, let’s work collectively to get him there.

Thank you.

As always — thanks for reading, sharing, commenting, etc… If you’d like to learn more about this particular topic, check out some of my published writings.

• Have Straight Black Men become the new face of White Guilt?
• Of Blue Check Negros & the Nuclear Family

Deuces,

Omowale