a river of art projects
To be informed is DANGEROUS? THE NEW DANGER
In an e-vite for the open mic at the gallery The New Danger was described by me as a group of artists and organizers who believe being "informed" is dangerous. A fellow artist thought this was destructive and misleading. They clarified what they meant and saw a connotation of being informed as being dangerous as possibly implying the rejection of recieving information. I thought The Future was truly on the Table and responded.
I didn't catch the double meaning in the statement that being informed was dangerous at first but i understand the connotation. To embody that very danger in the name of my crew would to me inherently mean to embrace the dangerous aspects of having information not rejecting it.
historically for me if i was born 200 years earlier being able to read and being informed was dangerous and could lead to my death. Professionally the way my intellect was relentlessly cited and my subsequent termination made a career death of sorts for me, just for being informed, just for possibly being brighter than someone else in a profession that mandates being informed; education. Being informed also got my job back and record cleared cause i did my homework and wouldnt give up. It hurt me but i understand it.
The public school system can not have young black men walking and thinking at the same time much less being an effective educator in the course with all the ideas, art. My mere existence and effectiveness would alter the gangster/militant/sambo myth created for me then other black people would have to reconsider the lies, then all ethnicities would eventually see not the abberration but a fuller spectrum of black people. The alternatives open up, and the balance is upset. This is the New Danger (im actually not black in the political designation acsribed to me) But at first it was comedy to see people afraid of me because I had a brain and no guns. Then it became racism when they interfered with the students getting what they need just to punish me for not making the establishment feel comfortable when i was an asset the whole time. Race aside, any teacher in the community that i taught in who raised the bar is a threat because they curb factory job applications,military enlistment, decrease unemployment, decrease tech school enrollment for university admissions, etc etc. If the school system goes after effective educators especially black ones, then what are they doing to the student body? Kids ashamed of getting awards in cermonies for academic acheivement...its really scary.
I sometimes some up the New Danger as "colored people with books." Or "intelligent americans." which some would say is an oxymoron.
It is much harder to leverage an informed person aware of thier options and willing to do research on what they know not. Those folks become more dangerous when the threat of death, job termination, etc. won't move them. In the political designation assigned to me its even cool to be ignorant and only limited to the myths once imposed and now practiced on cruise control. How much more scary would black men be to the world by not meeting the systems expectations and awareness of the traps, that actually we all know but self image and esteem issues make us default to "its the only game the man left us to play." We dont have to play. Folks who know that are dangerous. I know that dealers, gang bangers, and all of the black underworld pose no threat to a sytem that created them to be those things. They pose and are a threat to the lives they destroy but this is by design, who's design?
It is my belief that having information poses a threat to people who need and want to conserve power. The informed are dangerous whether its Martha S. insider trading or the Bourne Identity type operative who wants to quit. I know the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 64 was bogus but it lead to Nam, I know the trade center and WMD was staged by someone who didnt win Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 04 was a hoax.
Certainly Im not the guy going down to my local recruiter for any reason to kill any people of any ethnicity, Certainly im not the guy you wanna draft either cause i'll do the time with a smile and a pile of books for dodging. Me with weapons and information with a general with his back turned is not a good look....psych, no fragging but i would volunteer for the hole, abu ghraib etc. before i carry out the will of the wicked. A nation of Omaris who wont join gangs or sell drugs, kill colored people domestically and fill up prisons or kill colored people abroad would simply upset the balance.
The other side of being informed is corruption. How many times has knowing things placed folks in danger or what they knew gave them an unfair advantage. See voting machine technology, Patriot act, and my ex girlfriends. Talk to me people.
I didn't catch the double meaning in the statement that being informed was dangerous at first but i understand the connotation. To embody that very danger in the name of my crew would to me inherently mean to embrace the dangerous aspects of having information not rejecting it.
historically for me if i was born 200 years earlier being able to read and being informed was dangerous and could lead to my death. Professionally the way my intellect was relentlessly cited and my subsequent termination made a career death of sorts for me, just for being informed, just for possibly being brighter than someone else in a profession that mandates being informed; education. Being informed also got my job back and record cleared cause i did my homework and wouldnt give up. It hurt me but i understand it.
The public school system can not have young black men walking and thinking at the same time much less being an effective educator in the course with all the ideas, art. My mere existence and effectiveness would alter the gangster/militant/sambo myth created for me then other black people would have to reconsider the lies, then all ethnicities would eventually see not the abberration but a fuller spectrum of black people. The alternatives open up, and the balance is upset. This is the New Danger (im actually not black in the political designation acsribed to me) But at first it was comedy to see people afraid of me because I had a brain and no guns. Then it became racism when they interfered with the students getting what they need just to punish me for not making the establishment feel comfortable when i was an asset the whole time. Race aside, any teacher in the community that i taught in who raised the bar is a threat because they curb factory job applications,military enlistment, decrease unemployment, decrease tech school enrollment for university admissions, etc etc. If the school system goes after effective educators especially black ones, then what are they doing to the student body? Kids ashamed of getting awards in cermonies for academic acheivement...its really scary.
I sometimes some up the New Danger as "colored people with books." Or "intelligent americans." which some would say is an oxymoron.
It is much harder to leverage an informed person aware of thier options and willing to do research on what they know not. Those folks become more dangerous when the threat of death, job termination, etc. won't move them. In the political designation assigned to me its even cool to be ignorant and only limited to the myths once imposed and now practiced on cruise control. How much more scary would black men be to the world by not meeting the systems expectations and awareness of the traps, that actually we all know but self image and esteem issues make us default to "its the only game the man left us to play." We dont have to play. Folks who know that are dangerous. I know that dealers, gang bangers, and all of the black underworld pose no threat to a sytem that created them to be those things. They pose and are a threat to the lives they destroy but this is by design, who's design?
It is my belief that having information poses a threat to people who need and want to conserve power. The informed are dangerous whether its Martha S. insider trading or the Bourne Identity type operative who wants to quit. I know the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 64 was bogus but it lead to Nam, I know the trade center and WMD was staged by someone who didnt win Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 04 was a hoax.
Certainly Im not the guy going down to my local recruiter for any reason to kill any people of any ethnicity, Certainly im not the guy you wanna draft either cause i'll do the time with a smile and a pile of books for dodging. Me with weapons and information with a general with his back turned is not a good look....psych, no fragging but i would volunteer for the hole, abu ghraib etc. before i carry out the will of the wicked. A nation of Omaris who wont join gangs or sell drugs, kill colored people domestically and fill up prisons or kill colored people abroad would simply upset the balance.
The other side of being informed is corruption. How many times has knowing things placed folks in danger or what they knew gave them an unfair advantage. See voting machine technology, Patriot act, and my ex girlfriends. Talk to me people.
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