5 Good Things

Giving honor to God.  Somewhere, some place a 47-year-old male just took his last breath and therefore, being here with you in this moment is something that I do not take lightly.  Also, I want to thank the Paxon staff for inviting me to be a part of your event.  Although, I am just a fill in I won’t hold that against anyone. 

That being said I was asked to provide a few perils of wisdom to you all and I don’t know about you but anytime anyone ask me to do that I always feel a little old.  I mean I am not much of a Nana’er or Dabber but I got a mean two-step and I do Tweet from time to time.  However, given the request I will do my best and not take too much of your time because I do know you all have things to do. 

So here we go there are about 5 things that I think are relevant for you to know, particularly as young people as you move forward to your next whatever your next may be.  Now I feel it is personally important for you to know that your next is not going to look like anyone in this room.  One of the things that I find particularly fascinating about you all as a generation is your ability to not only do your own thing, but how you all as a generation can make people and in some instances contort society to fit your own model of how things should be.  But know matter if you are doing you or you are doing the masses I feel like these things will work for you.

Therefore, I present to you my 5 things…

1.     True knowledge comes through experience and everything else represents information.  What I mean by that is you have to go through some things in or to have experiences.  This is particularly important as many of you are navigating your late teens and some of you are about to enter college you have this feel that you know everything and your parents and or care givers ain’t up on what are experiencing, but I am here to tell you that ain’t nothing new under the sun.  It’s just repackaged.  Therefore, take advantage of some of the sage wisdom in your life.  It can save you from having to go through so much drama in the long run.  You don’t have to get burned by a fire in order to prove it’s hot when 10 people in your space have already had the experience and can tell you that’s a fire and it will burn you. 

2.     Catastrophe and celebration are like joy and pain they are simultaneous journeys and you cannot have one without the other.  What I mean by this is so many of us get lost in the celebration of success and often times for the toll it took to get there.  Therefore, what I would like to do for you today is encourage each of you to not get to high when things are great and not get to low when things are bad.  Savor the journey through each and appreciate the lessons on each.  I say this knowing it is hard when you are experiencing on of life moments, but I give you this analogy.  No one like to take Pepto Bismol or any other medicine, but man what a relief we feel when it starts its healing action.

3.     Do everything with F.I.R.E

Focus

Intention

Reverence

Energy

Success no matter how you define it cannot happen without it. 

4.     The 4^th point I particularly leave with you all as young people because you all have grown up in an era where service to others is more like an obligation rather than just what you do as a member of the human race.  But, the great Shirley Chilsom said, “Service to others is the rent we pay for living on earth.”  No one should have to prod you or offer you bonus points to serve your neighbor.  It should be just something you do.  Therefore, I challenge you to just commit a random act of kindness and watch the liberation you get when you allow yourself to be a manifestation of a POWER that’s greater than you.

5.      The 5^th and final point I would like to make is that if you are really going to soar you not only have to know your craft, but know yourself.  Ain’t nothing more disturbing to me than a delusional rapper or ballplayer.  But in all seriousness we have to be honest with ourselves more than anyone because I assure you today is already passed and tomorrow is not promised and the graveyard is fill with people who were either not honest with themselves or full of potential.

As I prepare to sit I leave you with a saying my Granddaddy Rob use to say

Walk Slow – What he meant by that was no Holy person whether it was Jesus, Mohammad or Buddha ever was in a hurry to do anything.  Therefore, take your time and enjoy the ride.  I assure you it whatever it is will be there. 

Drink Plenty of Water – The journey of life is long.  Therefore, if you are going to go you must stay hydrated.  There is something to this water thing. 

And keep your nose in front of you – What he meant was mind your own business. 

With that said

I bid you love

I bid you peace 

And most of I bid you understand  

I AM

Dr. Irvin PeDro Cohen

In Light Of

I have often suggested that African American men are by far the best actors on the plant.  Not particularly because of any cinematic skills we posses, but because of the real time, real life character dexterity we must show at all times. I guess one could call it an inherent bi-polarness or innate code switching ability you are born with that lies dormant until the appropriate time and then BAM it appears. However, with the latest round of public executions of African-American men it is making me question if somehow my inherent navigational tool is miscalibrated or have we sped back into a time when the perception of what made America great constituted Strange Fruit (Google Billie Holliday). 

As both a front line solider and a public intellectual even I am at a loss for what is appropriate actions when you see the lives of so many being taken by those who masquerade as public servants under the guise of protecting and serving.  The rules that were passed down to allow me to navigate the inherent system of injustices seem to be out of date without a corresponding upgrade. 

Don’t do crime and you will be ok seems to be the prevailing wisdom from those least impacted, but what is seemingly victimless incidents both legal and questionable are leaving countless African-American men DEAD.  I offer the following for proof:

Alton Sterling selling CD’s

Philando Castile sitting in his car reaching for his registration

Eric Gardner selling lose cigarettes

Samuel Dubois missing a front license plate

Oscar Grant riding a commuter train

These are just a few of the instances that ended in a loss of life not just for them, but for those of us share their ethnicity and gender.  I attest to both my own reality and my even larger humanity that a part of me dies every time I hear about an African-American dying at the hands of the police. 

I immediately find myself asking was not the corresponding code switching apparatus not working for these men?  Did they forget the scene and stayed in a previous character to long, therefore forgetting the consequences were going to be death.  I am not sure and the pain of having to wait for a system of injustice that has proven way more favorable to the other side seems unbearable. 

One of my favorite poets/musician/thinkers of all time Gil Scott Heron said the Revolution Will Not Be Televised, but I beg to differ the revolution is being televised courtesy of Apple and Android and is being beamed into our sub-consciousness via Facebook.  Yet a significant reaction that will equally disrupt the moral consciousness of the masses has yet to be birthed so for now I give what I have to the cause and that’s the breath I breathe into these thoughts, the work of illuminating my larger humanity and the part of my spirit that dies tragically every time an African-American is killed by law enforcement.

This is my truth and it is real heavy right now.

Dr. Irvin PeDro Cohen

#RIPAltonSterling

#RIPPhilandoCastile

No Hash Tag

The rash of violence that has seemed to engulf my beloved city has taken me like many other people throughout my city aback.  However, the recent death of young Aiden McClendon struck a particular cord with me.  Not only because of his youth (22 months old), but the seemly randomness by which his young life was taken. At 22 months he had yet to discover any of the gifts or let alone curses life would even offer him and now we collectively mourn his tragic death.

Over the last 24hrs as I have trolled my social media timeline I have seen the ubiquitous call for prayers and the political response by both the Mayor and the Sheriff.  Personally, I have found little solace in either as none of the aforementioned has brought about a true reconciliation with what I see and hear.  Mentally and spiritually I am conflicted as I try and reject the idea that the very communities that raised me and so many of my peers have evolved into violent hinterlands where not even the youngest of lives is spared. Joy and pain are celebrated equally at the same story line depending on the neighborhood you from.

As I gather my thoughts I find myself asking what is the tipping point for our community? What is the line that everyone understands we cannot cross despite any larger beefs?  Under what circumstances do we say jail is the consequence for this particular action?  Or have we just evolved to a space and place where no one or any place is safe?  Even on the Wire and the Godfather they had rules.  

I also find myself asking what is the solution to such rampant and senseless violence that has seemingly become commonplace for not only my community, but also many others like it across the country.  I have evolved from a place where I simply believe that economic piety is the cure all for what ails many within these troubled neighborhoods and simply blaming the structural racism that exist is far to easy.  Fact of the matter is none of the referenced is valid reasons as to why young Aiden is dead.  He was too young to understand the value of a dollar and far to innocent to be sucked into the vortex of racism. 

Yet as the days go by and the Internet trolls on there will be no shutting down of roads, or calls for justice about his death.  There will be no tears shed beyond his families or any marches with participants shouting “No Justice, No Peace.”  His death won’t represent a watershed moment worthy of a hash tag. It will be just another day, with just another name that died on the mean city streets of our beloved city.   

And for that I am truly ashamed.

This is my truth and I AM sticking to it.

I AM

Dr. Irvin PeDro Cohen

Cocktails and Conversation

In a conversation with a friend regarding Richard Sherman’s comments about the merits of the Blacklivesmatter Movement it amazed me how stark the difference can be depending on your perspective and your belief regarding Power and who has it.  I mentioned to my friend that I found nothing wrong with Richard Sherman’s comments, nor did I see where it took the focus off the issue of police brutality.  However, it did put the issue of Black on Black crime and how we as a community address it or not. 

First and foremost allow me to say that I am well aware of the fact that people kill who they have proximity to therefore, not only do blacks kill blacks more often than anyone else, whites kill whites just as much.  Matter of fact according to the Department of Justice, 84% of whites who are killed in this country are killed by someone who looks just like them.  That being said the backlash Richard Sherman received was indicative of the level of sensitivity we as a community have when someone from within floats commentary that seemingly goes against the collective mindset.

I went on to suggest to him that while I am personally, emotionally and spiritually sensitive to the lives that are lost at the hands of law enforcement I am even more impacted at the lives that are lost on the blocks and in the hoods at the hands of people who look just like me.  I went on to explain that I feel this way because it is on those same blocks and in those same neighborhoods I see the greatest reflection of my own story both good and bad.  Therefore, it is my opinion that there is a greater accountability there because when you see me you should be seeing a reflection of yourself.  Yet daily many young black and brown men die on the corners and streets across this country and no one marches, no one protest and in many cases vows of not to snitch are taken and as I argued to him the pain is just as real. 

A family’s pain is no less painful when their son or daughter dies at the hands of Officer Friendly or at the hands of De Bo.  My friend disagreed in terms of his belief that we have learned to live with one while the other is completely unacceptable.  One is an outcome of structural racism and the other is because of a learned behavior regarding self.

My friend’s position rested in the Power and Responsibility law enforcement has versus everyone else.  While I tend to agree I also know that Power by in large rest in Perception and having Responsibility does not automatically make you Competent to have any of the aforementioned.  I did suggest to him that what the Blacklivesmatter Movement has done through the aid of technology is galvanized people around the ghost in the machine relative to police behavior in communities of color and how that behavior can and has led to death for many people of color at the slightest provocation or lack thereof. 

I further suggested to him that police behavior or lack thereof in communities of color is about Power and the ability to enforce that Power simply because of who and what they represent, sorta like the Overseer on a plantation. Matter of opinion I think we give away our God given Power way to often to our very own detriment and that act of surrender leaves communities of color vulnerable to many things including the bullet, the Bible and the ballot.  However, I personally refuse to acquiesce my own personal Power to the Power of anyone simple because they have a badge, Bible or anything else so I guess I will simply die with my Chuck Taylor's on and a clean consciousness. 

That’s my truth and I AM sticking to it…

I AM 

Dr. Irvin PeDro Cohen

Beef

I like most young African American scholars grew up admiring Cornel West and his scholarly aptitude and his unrelenting commitment to stand in the face of the Ivory Tower and boldly and openly criticize it.  Therefore, the public lambasting of arguably one of the GREATEST academicians in our lifetime is a tad bit disheartening.  While I do agree some of his public criticism of the President has come off as petty and small and his self-anointment of himself in the vain of Dr. King and Jesus Christ is a bit modern day “preacherish" to me.  However, I do think his lifetime social and academic deposits specifically warrant him a level of respect and far exceed any withdrawals he can make at this point.   

   

Has Dr. West lost a step academically maybe, but so have Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.  What I mean by this is we all hit a point where we are not what we used to be and intellectuals are no different, but to have your intellectual credentials questioned simply because you choose to be unafraid in your questioning or critique of the President is small in my opinion.  Furthermore, there has only been one person to date with the feat of walking on water and to openly criticize the President when the larger African American community feels we are in the mist of it happening again (walking on water that is) takes courage.  But again going against the collective grain is never popular nor is it easy ask any African-American Republican. 

Is Dr. West bitter as Dr. Dyson attest maybe, but age, vitality and the consciousness of one’s own mortality and awareness regarding all of the things you did or did not do has a way of making us all a little testy.   Is he searching for the limelight that he once use to own exclusively due to his academic credentials, maybe so, but so is Al Sharpton relative to his space and countless others.  In my own personal space I was called a whipper snapper and grass hopper when I challenged an elder. 

If there is any light that can be shined down upon this situation it is that the African-American is by no means a homogenious community.  Two, we all don’t think President Obama is Little Baby Jesus and are afraid to be critical of him even though it may get shrouded in pettiness.  Three and probably most important to me is there are African-American men in our community who have academic merit.  We are not all limited in our aspirations and for some their aspiration extends to be public intellectuals.  Four and the one that I hope my pistol packing, driveby shooting, beef having young brothers see is that there can be beef where no one dies a physical death or add to the prison population. 

That’s My Truth and I am sticking to it…

I AM

Dr. Irvin PeDro Cohen

                                                                                               

The New Normal

In preparation for an upcoming talk to some young men I thought about how the paradigm for normalcy has been shifted for young boys of color.  What I mean by that is I personally don’t think there is anything abnormal about being educated, not incarcerated, having a job (non-athletic or non-entertainer) or better yet being socially responsible.  Yet somehow this narrative puts me and many of my peers in elite status.  Although, I do recognize that only about 20% of African Americans hold college degrees and to go even deeper less than 1% have a doctorate degree, but this message is not solely about academic credentials.  I also am keenly aware of the urban myth regarding black men and prison.

Urban Myth

There are more black men in prison than in college…

If I were to reflect just upon my social circle both now as an adult and when I was a kid I would venture to say I know more dudes who became truck drivers, longshoremen, work at the Post Office or are school teachers in some capacity than I do in jail, the league (NFL or NBA) or in the studio with Rick Ross, Kanye or Jay Z.  However, the launchpad to a quality life has been co-opted to the two aforementioned entry points (sports or entertainment) and anything short represent failure.  What this further suggests to me is the perceived economic windfall that comes from such career pursuits trumps any focus on real world options that may allow many of our boys to evolve into to functional young men much less feel good and optimistic about being something other than a ball player or a hot rapper. 

The all in approach of sports leave many young men of color degreeless and broken economically without a functional skill that’s applicable to the real world and the repercussions of the music game I would offer are even worse. The requisite narrative in order to be considered “hot” and even get a semblance of attention requires you to profess to a lifestyle that goes counterproductive to the greater good of any potential beneficiary of your success (see Bobby Shmurda).    

What we have to do is say to young boys of color your ability to drain a 3, fly through the air and dunk, catch a pass or run like the wind are quite limiting relative to the totality of your life and this is just a moment and skill set in time.  Therefore, use that skill as the jump off to educate yourself and develop options.

And to those young boys of color who see their microphone proficiency as their gateway from the mean streets of wherever they come from they have to be reminded that there is no romanticism in the conditions that create oppression. 

You know it's hard out here for a pimp
When he tryin' to get this money for the rent
For the Cadillacs and gas money spent

Three Six Mafia

Their words have become antiseptic to a harsh reality that allows the struggles of many to go unnoticed or at the most taken for granted.  Furthermore, those very same words normalize the hurt and pain relative to premature death and prison and ain't nothing normal about that.  Matter of fact your narrative has evolved through your lyrical experiences (both real and imaginary) created an entire industrial complex that thrives upon your destruction.

There is NOTHING wrong with being able to fix, analyze or develop things, nor is there anything wrong with driving a truck or any of the other honorable professions that allow you to be free physically and mentally of harm.  Matter of fact I would say that’s more normal than anything.

Shout out to all the dudes working normal jobs…

That’s My Truth and I am Sticking To It…

I AM

Dr. Irvin PeDro Cohen      

A Heavy Heart and a Little Headiness

In this season of giving thanks and for all intents and purposes of good cheer I find myself both with a heavy heart and feeling a little headiness.  Heavy hearted for the fact that another African American male has died at the hands of a known assailant and yet no one is to be held accountable for his death. 

Heavy hearted because no matter if you know the victim or not as an African American male you carry the weight of his death as if it was your own or one of an immediate member of your family.  Heavy hearted because with every instance of such public deaths a portion of you dies and yet you are still conscious enough to ask yourself why and what can be done to prevent such occurrences from happening again.  However, in those instances I remember Emmitt Till, Johnny Mae Chappell and Fred Hampton and the countless others that died the same kinds of public deaths only to have their perpetrators go knowingly free. 

Heavy hearted because you want to believe in those who have sworn to protect and serve and in a system of laws.  Yet the realty is you know that our lighter shade of brown brethren don’t die because of loose cigarettes, loud music, whistling at women of a different race or simply walking through neighborhoods at night with nothing more than Skittles and ice tea. 

Hang ups, let downs

Bad breaks, set backs

Natural fact is

I can't pay my taxes

Oh, make me wanna holler

And throw up both my hands

Yea, it makes me wanna holler

And throw up both my hands

Crime is increasing

Trigger happy policing

                                  Marvin Gaye

Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

The headiness I feel is paralyzing because as a conscious African American male you want to over stand because to understand may cause you to miss something that can be the difference between life and death.   Therefore, you relive both your youth and your present for instances when you could have been a cautionary tale about what can happen when you forget the rules of code switching.  And you immediately account for the young African American males you are responsible for to make sure that you have taught them the rules of engagement. 

There is a level of headiness as you try to find a plausible escape for the emotions that you feel when your entire humanity has been reduce to a hash tag that simply says black lives matter.  However, the moment I have to remind you of my humanity as a man, in particular an African American man is the moment I have lost because it gives you the right to not see me as human and therefore my right to exist becomes a matter of your judgment.

That’s My Truth and I AM Sticking to It

I AM

Dr. Irvin PeDro Cohen