A Night in Tunisia.

A Facebook conversation about Black Lives Matters and the "Western-prescribed nuclear family structure." If you haven't already done so, accept my encouragement to visit the Black Lives Matters website, and instead of hearing from a friend who heard it from a friend about what BLM is saying, go straight to the source and think for yourself ... for a nice change.

JM: So you totally missed the BLM part where they want to tear down the nuclear family?

Roger A. Baylor: Hmm, "tear down" -- well, I couldn't find that specific wording anywhere. I imagine you are referring to this passage:

"We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable."

I'll readily concede to not knowing exactly where BLM is coming from here, but it's evident that (a) the system of American slavery and botched "reconstruction" did a fine job of disrupting Black "nuclear" families; (b) late period capitalism has pitched in to further disrupt "nuclear" families beyond strictly Black ones; and (c) I'm extremely suspicious about what is being implied by the "nuclear" family in the first place, as it strikes me as code for what always was more cliche than reality. What I glean from the BLM passage is that there are numerous sorts of families, too many to be confined by "Leave It to Beaver." If anyone out there can assist with my education on this matter, I'd appreciate it. In the interim, I don't see the threat in any of this.

Jeff Gillenwater: It’s always amusing when people object to BLM via racist interpretations.

JS: No you're correct. It's of the "It Takes a Village" variety. Not meant to supplant the "nuclear family" but to expand it, like much of the world. Parents look out for each others' kids, especially important when parent(s) work. Elderly are part of the community and not shuffled off to homes to rot away, etc.

JG: More communal, matriarchal community structures are historically prevalent in Africa, hence the notion of Western prescription. It’s been genuinely inspiring to see that in contemporary action via BLM. The level of organization and leadership is impressive. Those who think the movement is limited to protest don’t know or understand much as their ignorant and often hatefully aimed comments tend to make clear ... Black women leading is plenty enough reason for some people to be obviously hyper critical and find something wrong with every (often manufactured) aspect of the movement without ever actually mentioning Black women. They think no one notices their racism/sexism that way. It’s sort of pathetically funny to watch them act as if they’re taking some great stand for justice when they so clearly lack the awareness and courage to even face themselves.

The remainder is here.

Brave & Strong.

Sportswriter Royce Young posted this on Twitter.

The prelude: "First question for (San Antonio Spurs coach) Gregg Popovich today was about Marco Belinelli's status for the game against the Grizzlies. This was his answer."

"Our number one priority as far as the country and society is concerned is racial justice, actually racial injustice that exists in our country and trying to make everything just for all people. Just as a reminder, in this world a lot of people really do not understand the breadth and depth of this horrific situation that Black people have been in for so long. And I just want to give you one example. We're all doing this on our gamedays as we find an opportunity, just so people understand how gross we have been. Not just now, but in the past. It didn't just happen; it's been this way for hundreds of years. As an example: Today, 120 years ago in North Carolina a constitutional amendment was approved and what it did was it established a literacy test for Black people that they had to pass before they could vote. White people did not have the same literacy test and it was so gross that they made a rule that if you had a relative before 1863 that had voted, and you're still illiterate now, you can vote. So that meant White people could vote if they had a relative before 1863 who voted. Well, Black people were enslaved and didn't have any relatives before 1863 who voted. So they were disenfranchised.

"There was a former Confederate officer, William Guthrie, who on the eve of the election made a statement and basically said ... this was very necessary to protect the White women, that they can't go out in the streets and don't feel safe when they're alone. We have to keep the quote-unquote colored people away from them. So he emphasized this just on the eve of the election , to make sure that their way would be the rule that people had to live under. This sort of activity went on over and over and over again, for all this time. And again, it's about education and culture, and none of us knew these kinds of things, none of us were taught these things. Black, Brown, Asian, Native American -- it doesn't matter, none of us were taught these things. Hopefully if people understand how gross this situation really is and how long it's been this gross , maybe we can make some headway.

Marco Belinelli is out tonight."

"As you address “systemic racism” in Louisville look at pollution in Black neighborhoods and the institutions that profit from it."

Photo credit goes to J. Tyler Franklin, at WFPL's 2019 series on toxic air pollution in Louisville.

You can almost hear the rejoinder: "Well, if it's dangerous, move ... but not into OUR neighborhood, of course."

Pollution in Black neighborhoods part of Louisville's systemic racism, by John Hans Gilderbloom, Gregory D. Squires, Robert P. Friedland and Dwan Turner (Courier Journal)

Thousands of Black and white protesters got a taste recently of what it is like to feel the agony of being gassed by the police. It was painful, sickening and scary.

But citizens in western Louisville are regularly “gassed,” causing long-term health problems. The mayor’s own office admits this truth, with people dying an average of 10 years earlier in western Louisville compared to the rest of the city. In some neighborhoods, the life span is less than in war-torn Iraq according to Louisville’s Health Department.

In other words, 60,000 folks (enough to fill Cardinal Stadium) are dying prematurely and most of them are African Americans. As you address “systemic racism” in Louisville look at pollution in Black neighborhoods and the institutions that profit from it. Western Louisville’s air, water and soil are so toxic and rank among the worst of any American city. It is unlivable for a modern American neighborhood ...

snip

The calls for greater equity also means cleaning up the air, water and soil. Poor people needlessly suffer more here than the same low-income people in West Coast cites. If we adopted the same tough, environmental regulations as our West Coast counterparts, western Louisville would surely bloom.

The unfairness between black and white neighborhoods is stark and vivid. As the great urbanist, Jane Jacobs, once said: "everyone hungers for a first class neighborhood for both pride and dignity ... nobody wants a second class neighborhood." First class neighborhoods are safe, healthy, sustainable, and prosperous. It is a human right, an American right.