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Emancipation 2016: The Economic Game

By N Oji Mzilikazi

7 August 2016

Power respects power. Economic empowerment/economic success lends itself to accessing power.

Failure of a race, ethnicity or community to be empowered economically ensures they remain powerless, weak, marginalised, exploited, and the footstool of others.

Economics is at the heart of anti-Black racism…

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To Rectify Damage, Reverse Our Paralysis Part 2

To Rectify Damage, Reverse Our Paralysis Part 2

By N Oji Mzilikazi

Originally appeared in the Montreal Community Contact Volume 24, Number 11 May 29, 2014

Moving forward sometimes call for one to look backwards; even take a couple steps backwards. Doing so allows us to engineer change. Doing so facilitates understanding the forces that made; shaped us, have us where we currently are.

Doing so allows us to learn from the past, gain new perspectives, contemplate and come up with better strategies, make different and more informed choices — strategic choices to bring about better, healthier, and more successful outcomes…

 

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Ungrateful Whites

Ungrateful Whites

By N Oji Mzilikazi

November 5, 2011

(Updated November 7, 2011)

(Published November 10, 2011, in Montreal Community Contact Volume 21, Number 23)

In the 1950s racism allowed Pat Boone to build name and make a fortune doing cover versions of “race music” – Black songs. In 2006 he returned to the genre that was so good to him and released an album of cover versions of 11 R&B hits.

In spite of Obama producing his long form birth certificate and putting the controversy of his being born outside America to rest, in a September 2011 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Boon insisted that Obama was born in Kenya.

Tiger Woods winning ways made his caddie Steve Williams a multi-millionaire.

An April 2008 Espn Magazine article about Steve Williams mentioned that 50 framed photos of Williams and Woods in every pose imaginable” are in Williams’ trophy room, as well the flags from the 18th green of every tournament he and Tiger have won together. Every flag, dating back to the Deutsche Bank in May ’99, is signed by Tiger.”

Those one of a kind autographed flags are so valuable, they could feed Williams’ future great grandchildren for a number of years.

In nothing but a display of bad mindedness and ungratefulness, Williams publicly dissed Tiger Woods on Sunday, August 6th, 2011.

Tiger had terminated their relationship of twelve years. Williams became Adam Scott’s caddy. Upon their first pairing and the outcome of Adam Scott winning the Bridgestone Invitational, Williams declared Scott’s victory was the best win I’ve ever had” and the tournament “the greatest week of my life.”

Williams was on the bag for 13 of 14 of Woods’ major championship titles. Tiger won the Bridgestone Invitational 7 times with Williams as his caddy. Greg Norman, José María Olazábal and Craig Stadler are the only golfers with multiple wins at the tournament-2 each. Bridgestone Invitational is not a major. Yet bitterness and anger towards Woods had Williams elevating it, and the win by Scott to Olympic Gold.

At the November 4th 2011, HSBC Champions pre-tournament caddie dinner in Shanghai, China, Williams took the podium.  To a crowd estimated at over 200, he explained his rational at Bridgestone : “My aim was to shove it right up that black arsehole.”

The British Telegraph newspaper reported, “The remark by Williams left the audience of players, caddies and sponsors aghast.”

Williams has his defenders. Greg Norman doesn’t believe Williams is racist, only that his comments were stupid. When has a person of African descent ever gotten away with a “stupid” comment? Jesse Jackson called New York “Hymie town” back in the 80s, and that is continually used to paint him as anti-Semitic.

In every sport, players, coaches and the like are fired, traded or don’t have their contract renewed. It’s the nature of the business.  Tiger’s ranking is currently- down to #58. He has been a non-factor in golf this past year, and still Williams couldn’t bring himself to move forward.

That Williams choose to qualify and preface his animosity to Tiger with “black” – attacking the roots of his identity, and by extension the community to which he belongs, demonstrates the ease with which recessive genes of racism manifest when persons thought of as non-racist and Blacks fall out.

A joint statement issued by the US PGA and European Tours on November 6th made it clear that Williams will not be punished. They felt Williams’ apology was sufficient unto itself and the matter closed.

Nonetheless, those good white folks running golf had no problem fining Woods £10,000 for spitting on a green during a tournament in Dubai last year. I guess Woods saliva hitting the grass was more damaging than Williams’ racism.

Though Woods admitted being hurt by the comments of his former caddie, he doesn’t have a single Black revolutionary bone in his body.

Who can forget how easily and quickly he gave Fuzzy Zoeller a pass? Zoeller made racist “jokes” about Tiger upon his winning the 1997 Masters.

In his typical Uncle Tomism style, Woods stated at a press conference prior to the start of the 2011 Australian Open: Williams is no racist.

Here’s hoping pressure is brought to bear to get Williams suspended, if not fired.

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Thomas Mulcair & The Exercise of Racism

Thomas Mulcair & The Exercise of Racism

By N Oji Mzilikazi

(Originally published in Montreal Community Contact Volume 21, Number 11, under the title “The Exercise Of Racism And Its Impact.)

May 26, 2011

On the heels of the best ever showing of the NDP, Thomas Mulcair, its deputy leader, stated on national television that he didn’t believe photos of a dead bin Laden existed. To hear such absolute nonsense falling from the lips of an experienced politician, former cabinet minister and a lawyer none the less, had to be a calculated power play; a step in supplanting Jack Layton as party’s leader.

When it comes to politics, its politricks include politicians making use of any opportunities to get their name in print, score points, and articulating positions they do not necessarily hold to be true, but which will find traction with the public or deliver votes…