Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Locked Out of Being American

Click for Artist's Description


CITATION
Rasheed, Muhammad. "Locked Out of Being American." Cartoon. The Official Website of Cartoonist M. Rasheed 26 May 2020. Pen & ink w/Adobe Photoshop color.


Ruth Mukete - It’s bad asking People to throw their votes. Just my opinion & it’s your art. But ultimately, these images aren’t empowering to any black person i know.

Muhammad Rasheed - It's not a message for just any Black people, but for the Black American Descendants of Slavery specifically. I would not expect the Black diaspora to relate since they often live a different experience despite some similarities.

Ruth Mukete - Naturally but where has this narrative gotten the black American? Not very far in my opinion. And at a certain point you’re just black. Diaspora or continental. Defendants of slavery are also a part of that diaspora and the dichotomy it represents.

Muhammad Rasheed - If you honestly think this represents a defense of slavery, then you are even farther away from understanding this message intended for my own ethnic group than I at first presumed.

You have a demonstrably alien mentality and we only share a very surface 'skinfolk' connection that doesn't mean much at all as this post of yours shows. "Flat Blackness" is a myth created for political manipulation, not for diaspora unity.

Ruth Mukete - It’s a tool for progress. It’s not a our trauma is bigger than yours conversation which a lot of AA seem to resort to. It’s a shame you see it as flat black. But the sooner we come together the better. Until then, division will always enable said manipulation you speak so vehemently against yet cannot practice the very same tolerance you seek toward your own “skin folk “

Muhammad Rasheed - Ruth wrote: "And at a certain point you’re just black."

This is the impotent and manipulative "flat blackness" ideology. You're are the one who shamefully sees it, not me.

Ruth wrote: "It’s not a our trauma is bigger than yours conversation..."

It wasn't. I posted an editorial cartoon with meaning to my own people and you came here to express -- from your alien outsider perspective -- that you didn't understand it. Then you decided to lecture me about messaging my own people from our own unique heritage and experiences in our own land, which was the demonstration of your bringing a hostile divisiveness to me.

Please stop, as my patience does have a limit. Thank you.

Ruth Mukete - Art is open for interpretation. You can’t put something out there then tell people what to make of it. It may mean something else to you but can represent a narrative that is repetitive and repeatedly has failed (historically). At some point it’s perhaps a good idea to try a different approach.

Again. An opinion. Have a good day.

Muhammad Rasheed - Ruth wrote: "You can’t put something out there then tell people what to make of it."

I didn't tell you what to make of the cartoon. I did ask you to stop lecturing me about how my people should deal with our own government, culture, etc., since you've already admitted you were confused as to the messaging you were seeing as an alien outsider. Have your interpretation of the piece, but your uninformed, divisive and hostile "advice" is neither needed, nor wanted.

Thanks again.

Rich Brinson - Do you like in America just curious? All jokes aside... A older black man one's told me, if you were walking down the street and the Klan started chasing you and you see blacks on the other side of the street that was the same number as The Klan chasing you. But these blacks were from different parts of the world. Would you keep running by yourself waiting to find people that think like you or would you run to an African black or Spanish black that do not speak your language, but they do know why you are running...

Rich Brinson - That is a real conversation that I had with an older gentleman, black gentleman because I saw myself a little bit different than a lot of other blacks but in reality we can see ourselves differently from each other but the other people see us all the same Unity is our strength that we have together. Weather we think alike or different..

Muhammad Rasheed - Rich wrote: “Do you like in America just curious?”

Are you trying to ask me if I ‘live’ in America? If so, yes.

Rich wrote: “All jokes aside...”

That was supposed to be a joke? Curious.

Rich wrote: “A older black man one's told me…”

Sure, he did.

Rich wrote: “…or would you run to an African black or Spanish black that do not speak your language, but they do know why you are running...”

Based on this encounter with you and Ruth, they would have zero idea why I was running and in fact, would more than likely be working with the Klan as their dedicated “POC” support staff.

Rich wrote: “That is a real conversation that I had with an older gentleman…”

Riiiiiiight. It sounds like it was a repurposed ‘African proverb’ that hopefully managed to at least make sense in your own alien mind.

Rich wrote: “…Unity is our strength…”

Oh, I know and it starts of course with unity from within. My ethnic group’s political unification was deliberately sabotaged at the end of the Civil Rights Era, marking the beginning of our disenfranchisement as the fruit of the ‘Assimilated Integrationist Token’ program. A part of the enemy’s attack involved weaponizing a new Black immigrant class to replace us as the face of Black America, which is absolutely the nature of you and Ruth’s presence in this thread.

Smile for the camera, please.

Rich wrote: “…that we have together. Weather we think alike or different..”

My current objectives towards Black Empowerment is to first shake off the toxic effects of my enemy’s ‘Integration’ grift scheme, politically unify aligned to our unique lineage & heritage and use my political capital to pressure my government into committing to my Black Political Agenda so I can be made whole as a full citizen in this country I built. Based on the Black diaspora’s disappointing efforts to aid my enemy in sabotaging my goal of enfranchisement and economic inclusion (it turns out you lot actually like the idea of replacing me), I hold little hope of eventually being able to have a productive interconnected relationship with the diaspora unless you all collectively repent of your "pan-africa" treachery and change utterly. #WaitingOnYouSkinFolk

Rich Brinson - I can see you're very intelligent man. Like my father used to always tell me but I guess he didn't exist neither keep saying good morning....

Muhammad Rasheed - Peace.

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MEDIUM: Scanned pen & ink cartoon drawing w/Adobe Photoshop color.

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