7-Opinion
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 — 7
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan In Color
YOUR WEEKLY
ARIES
With Mars, your ruling planet,
turning retrograde, this is your
chance to dial down the noise and
to turn inward for a while. Focus
on getting the background details
right at work; good
preparation now will
ensure success later.
AQUARIUS
GEMENI
If you need financial or practical
assistance, distant family
members may be willing to step
in - it doesn't hurt to ask.
Meanwhile, Mars Retrograde
asks you to tone down
your social life for a bit.
Enjoy your own
company for a change.
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
SCORPIO
CANCER
Mars Retrograde in your
ambitions zone suggests that
you've been focusing too much on
trying to get ahead. Let work take
care of itself this week and
instead, focus on your
interpersonal
relationships.
Communicate, love and
communicate again.
TAURUS
Mars turns retrograde in your
spiritual zone, so now it's time to
allow spirit to unfurl around you,
instead of trying to force spiritual
growth. Keep an eye out for
synchronicities and
weird happenings, but
essentially, stop trying
too hard.
VIRGO
PICES
LIBRA
LEO
The Sun-Jupiter trine opens up
business opportunities, especially
if you are, or would like to be
self-employed. This is an
excellent time to sell your talents
and abilities to the wider
world. Focus locally to
begin with due to the
Mars Retrograde.
Read your weekly horoscopes from astrology.tv
Some of the anger and hostility
you feel towards others is being
directed inward now with Mars
Retrograde -which isn't healthy.
Seek a more positive outlet for all
that angst, whether
that's through sports or
the creative arts.
If your relationship has been going
through a rough patch, things
should settle down a little as
warrior planet Mars turns
retrograde in your love zone.
Adopt a calmer approach.
It's a good time to
investigate, as a couple,
your shared spiritual
links.
Things may start to become rather
disorganized this week, as Mars
Retrogrades in your everyday
zone. Don't be surprised to feel
tired or lethargic. You can keep up
your energy via positive
socia I interactions with
friends. Say yes to those
invitations!
You're not normally one to play it
safe, but with Mars now
retrograde in your risk zone, your
urge is to protect the status quo.
You can use this period as a
breathing space, or
perhaps work on a
long-term plan for
your future
ambitions.
Family life should become more
peaceful and less drama-filled for
a while this week, as Mars
Retrogrades in your home zone.
With some extra free time on your
hands, this is a great time
to look into expanding
your education.
Choosing to believe the best of
people is a good strategy this
week. The SunJupiter trine makes
it much easier to deal with difficult
emotional situations, as you can
spread love and optimism.
Keep your spirits and
your moral standards
high.
A shortage of money could result
from Mars turning retrograde in
your finance zone - perhaps you
no longer have the energy for a
side hustle. It's temporary. If
you're doing less work, however,
be sure to spend that
time wisely with your
loved ones.
WHISPER
“If you aint about it, don’t be
about it!!!”
“It’s all good in the morality hood”
“The chances of me having rabies
are extremely low, but if I do, and
don't get treated I will die a
terrible death. ”
It is difficult to chalk up
truth, emotion and produc-
tive analysis into a piece of
literature — worthy of pub-
lishing or being seen by oth-
ers — when talking about a
body of people you consider
your world, your light, your
kin and your spirit; it is dif-
ficult to know what to say to
a group of people, looking
at you to produce “content”,
when you want to say nothing
and you feel you know noth-
ing.
What I know is this: Amer-
ican society, along with the
large majority of the world,
runs off of indoctrinated
thought. This is not to con-
demn any individual or to
suggest that this societal
functioning or any group is
inferior — it is not to place
judgement on anyone or any-
thing in any way. It is to say
that we as a large body of
people, who are inherently
good willed, have a respon-
sibility to start living with
compassion as a principal of
life — that we must see one
another as extensions of our-
selves and guide one another
in compassion to a greater
way of being.
In the beginning of the
summer, I felt a responsi-
bility to respond somehow
to the uproar of anti-racist
activism spreading the globe.
I felt a responsibility to say
something on behalf of the
newspaper. I wrote editori-
als with my co-managing
editor Cheryn Hong and the
editorial page editor Brittany
Bowman, who are two boldly
intelligent
beings,
capable
of more than even they have
begun to imagine. The three
of us took on this project for
the summer, which has now
extended into the school year
and will probably go on for
longer than any of us ever
expected. I am proud of it
and of them, and of our writ-
ers, editors, our photo team,
graphic designers, our video
team and our web design-
ers who all made it happen.
With that being said, it does
not satisfy much. This is not
to say the work is not incred-
ible, that it is not powerful
or significant — it just means
we have done the minimum,
we have begun and we have
enormous ways to go; a life-
time.
There is a lot to be said
about racism in America and
in the world. There has been
a lot of conversation about
revolution in recent months,
a passionate response to a
sort
of
“awakened”
soci-
ety following the killing of
George Floyd — mind you this
societal awakening alone is a
sort of unfortunate and sym-
bolic truth about America
reminding Black people that
these last two hundred years
of civil right efforts have fall-
en upon broken ears. I want
to help, but in all of my small
efforts — like our wMiseduca-
tion project here at The Daily
and sporadic protests across
spring and summer months
— I end in a sort of unsatis-
fied hopelessness. I believe it
is rooted in an understand-
ing that I have only done so
much, or so little. I feel this
persistent and inexplicable
passion to pursue ‘freedom’
for society, but for so long I
looked at the word as some
ominous future, intangible.
What was essential for me
was to instead pursue intel-
lectual, spiritual and psycho-
logical development — and
ultimately, to pursue every-
thing with compassion.
I have spent a large major-
ity of my time honoring the
Greats, to name a few: Bob
Marley, Damian “Jr Gong”
Marley, Ms. Lauryn Hill,
Erykah
Badu,
Mos
Def,
Tupac, Talib Kweli and Nas.
They have taught me about
the world through myself and
most importantly, my mind.
I want to share some of their
words with you all.
A song that has at some
times engulfed me, by Nas,
titled “You Can’t Stop Us
Now” celebrates our power,
our truth and our passion
while
confronting
numer-
ous mediums and systems
through which the Black
and Indigenous communi-
ties have been exploited and
oppressed. The first verse
following into the chorus
goes like this: “I know your
hunger, kid. I know they hung
your dad, burnt your mama
crib. I know that hurt you bad.
Minstrel shows, from gold to
shackles and back to gold. We
act like we home, matter fact,
we are home. Bad attitudes,
octoroon skin tone. Slave
food turned to soul food, col-
lards and neck bones. Betsy
Ross sewed the first Ameri-
can flag, but she had a n****
with her to help her old ass.
As James Baldwin says ‘You
can only be destroyed by
believing that you really are
what the white world consid-
ers a n*****. No matter how
hard you try, you can’t stop
us now. No matter how hard
you try, you can’t stop us now.
Can’t be stopped.”
Whether speaking literally
or metaphorically, Nas first
pays homage to the reality of
being a Black kid in America
and travels through history
spanning oppressive abuse,
exploitation, rape. He cir-
cles back, reminds us this is
indoctrinated thought, that
no matter how much effort
has been put into neutraliz-
ing our mentalities or ridding
us of our identities — our his-
tories — we will prevail.
Mos Def pays these injus-
tices a similar respect in his
song “Mathematics”: “Kill-
ing fields need blood to graze
the cash cow. It’s a numbers
game, but shit don’t add up
somehow. Like I got sixteen
to thirty-two bars to rock it,
but only 15% of profits, ever
see my pockets like, sixty-
nine billion in the last twen-
ty years spent on national
defense but folks still live in
fear like nearly half of Ameri-
ca’s largest cities is one-quar-
ter black. That’s why they
gave Ricky Ross all the crack.
Sixteen ounces to a pound,
twenty more to a ki, A five
minute sentence hearing and
you no longer free. 40% of
Americans own a cell phone,
so they can hear everything
that you say when you ain’t
home. I guess Michael Jack-
son was right, ‘You Are Not
Alone’...Young teens and pris-
on greens facing life num-
bers. Crack mothers, crack
babies and AIDS patients.
Youngbloods can’t spell but
they could rock you in Play-
Station. This new math is
whipping
motherfuckers
ass. You wanna know how to
rhyme, you better learn how
to add, it’s mathematics.”
He closes with an ode to
the struggle of being a Black
body and a warning, “Young
soldiers trying to earn their
next stripe. When the average
minimum wage is $5.15, you
best believe you gotta find a
new ground to get cream. The
white unemployment rate is
nearly more than triple for
black, so front liners got their
gun in your back. Bubbling
crack, jewel theft and robbery
to combat poverty and end up
in the global jail economy.
Stiffer stipulations attached
to each sentence, budget cut-
backs but increased police
presence and even if you get
out of prison still living, join
the other five million under
state supervision. This is
business, no faces just lines
and statistics. From your
phone, your zip code, to S-S-I
digits.
The
system
break
man, child and women into
figures; Two columns for
who is, and who ain’t n****s.
Numbers are hardly real and
they never have feelings, but
you push too hard, even num-
bers got limits. Why did one
straw break the camel’s back?
Here’s the secret: The million
other straws underneath it,
it’s all mathematics.”
Though Nas and Mos Def
both sow a certain sorrow
into their lyricism, there is
also a bold conclusion coming
from their work — they have
both come to understand that
this senile history, the conse-
quential modern institutions
of slavery and the racism that
has pervaded society exists
separate from our existence.
The sentiment of Black infe-
riority is a sort of world or
mindset, it is not a truth to be
burdened with. The physical
manifestations of pain and
strife that have confronted
Black and Indigenous com-
munities because of this are
what we seek a solution to,
and we must continue to do
so until we resolve a greater
problem, but it is the human-
ity itself that is in dire need of
resolution.
Ms. Lauryn Hill has put out
invaluable work in her life-
time, my favorite being her
work from “MTV Unplugged
No. 2.0”. This album is a
tribute to spirit and a com-
plete understanding of self.
It serves as a rejection to our
social systems and to our way
of life; it serves as an accep-
tance of the truth, which you
must pursue on your own
with diligence and great curi-
osity. I want to share excerpts
from three different songs.
First,
“Mr.
Intentional”,
speaking to the individual
and community ego that pro-
hibits us from true progress:
“We give rise to ego by being
insecure. The advice that we
go desperately searching for.
The subconscious effort to
support our paramour. To
engage in denial, to admit
we’re immature. Validating
lies, Mr. Intentional. Open
up your eyes, Mr. Intentional.
Stuck in a system that seeks
to suck your blood. Held
emotionally hostage by what
everybody does. Counting all
the money that you give them
just because. Exploiting igno-
rance in the name of love…”
In “Adam Lives in Theory”,
the same analysis continues:
“Masquerading like he got it
figured out. Cut off from the
sunshine, only smart in his
own head, leaving his descen-
dants to hope and doubt. Left
to his devices, those worth-
less sacrifices, praying to the
altar of himself. Making pil-
grimages, thinking he’s reli-
gious, like he’s got all the light
and no one else. He takes the
unsuspected, cause he knows
they’re not connected, and he
shows them how to be just as
he is. Virtually real, and com-
mercially appealed,
to the lust of all the people
where he lives.” She closes
the song with this, “Now if
we can agree with who cre-
ated us to be, who says we’re
guilty everyone before his
eyes. Making no exceptions,
since the day of our concep-
tion, predisposed to hating
truth and loving lies. Stop
walking in pride, let the thief
be crucified. Unlearn every-
thing you know and let Him
teach you; Line upon line,
and precept upon precept,
say goodbye to this decaying
social system.”
When
you
pursue
the
development of yourself, you
pursue the world, because
once you understand com-
pletely who you are, once you
accept change as a principle
of life and you live in com-
plete empathy, you will have
the ability to give everything
to the world. With this how-
ever, is a responsibility to
pursue an ever-evolving edu-
cation in order to maintain a
solid conscience regarding
self and the world through-
out continuously challenging
social systems.
Damian “Jr Gong” Marley
and Nas share an album that
should be treated like clas-
sic literature, to be pursued
continuously
throughout
life, called “Distant Rela-
tives” — in which they con-
front
the
aforementioned
social systems while also
confronting the personality
that comes from living with-
in the system, challenging
their audience to begin with
deconstructing this illusive
“self” they have created. In
their track “Patience”, Mar-
ley begins, “Pay no mind to
the youths ‘cause it’s not like
the future depends on it, but
save the animals in the zoo
‘cause the chimpanzee them
make big money; This is how
the media pillages, on TV
the picture is savages in vil-
lages, and the scientist still
can’t explain the pyramids.
Evangelists making a living
on the videos of ribs of the
little kids; stereotyping the
image of the images and this
is what the image is.” He con-
tinues, “Some of the worst
paparazzi’s I’ve ever seen and
I’ve ever known put the worst
on display so the world can
see and that’s all they will
ever show. So the ones in the
west will never move east and
feel they could be at home,
get tricked by the Beast but
where they gon’ flee when
the monster is fully grown?
Solomonic
lineage
where
they can’t defeat and they
could never clone my spiritu-
al DNA that prints in my soul
and I will forever own, Lord.”
In the next verse, Marley
asks for introspection:, “Are
we growing wiser, or are we
just growing taller?
Can you read thoughts?
Can you read palms? Can you
predict the future? Can you
see storms coming?
The Earth was flat, if you
went too far, you would fall
off. Now the Earth is round,
if the shape changes again,
everybody would start laugh-
ing. The average man can’t
prove most of the things that
he chooses to speak of. And
still won’t research and find
out the root of the truth that
you speak of. Scholars teach
in universities and claim that
they’re smart and cunning.
Tell them to find a cure when
we sneeze and that’s when
their nose starts running.”
The
more
one
pursues
themselves and the world,
the more one understands
within these excerpts. All of
these prophets have shared
one recurring and ever pres-
ent thought which is that
these oppressive institutions
and the thought that inspires
them are not the way of life,
but rather a social system
that we have all succumbed
to and lived within.
Bob Marley is the founda-
tion of revolution music. He
is a foundation of revolu-
tion, a well of compassion
and a prophet of sorts. I want
to offer this sermon from
“War”: “Until the philosophy
which holds one race superior
and another inferior is finally
and permanently discredited
and abandoned, everywhere
is war, Me say war. That until
there are no longer first class
and second class citizens of
any nation, until the color
of a man’s skin is of no more
significance than the color
of his eyes, me say war.” He
continues, “That until that
day the dream of lasting
peace, world citizenship, rule
of international morality, will
remain in but a fleeting illu-
sion to be pursued, but never
attained, now everywhere is
war. War. And until the igno-
ble and unhappy regimes that
hold our brothers in Ango-
la, in Mozambique, South
Africa, Sub-human bondage,
have been toppled, utterly
destroyed, well, everywhere
is war. Me say war.”
I promise to put my entire
being into working toward
a world and society beyond
anything we can imagine in
our
current
indoctrinated
state — a world where what
I’m
saying
doesn’t
sound
painfully radical, but rather
a long overdue understanding
that to call notions of equal-
ity, peace, equity, love and
compassion should be prin-
ciples of life.
I want to end with the third
excerpt from Ms. Lauryn
Hill. This is from one of my
favorite songs of all time. The
song is “I Get Out”. In it, she
preaches this:
I won’t be compromised no
more. I can’t be victimised no
more. I just don’t sympathize
no more ‘cause now I under-
stand. You just want to use
me. You say “love” then abuse
me. You never thought you’d
lose me, but how quickly we
forget that nothin’ is for cer-
tain. You thought I’d stay
here hurtin’. Your guilt trip’s
just not workin’. Repressin’
me to death.’Cause now I’m
choosin’ life, yo. I’ll take the
sacrifice, yo. If everything
must go, then go, that’s how I
choose to live... No more com-
promises. I see past your dis-
guises. Blindin’ through mind
control. Stealin’ my eter-
nal soul. Appealin’ through
material. To keep me as your
slave. But I get out… Knowin’
my condition, oh, is the rea-
son I must change...I’ve just
accepted what you said, kee-
pin’ me among the dead. The
only way to know is to walk
then learn and grow. But
faith is not your speed, oh,
you’ve had everyone believe
that you’re the sole author-
ity. Just follow the majority.
Afraid to face reality. The
system is a joke.``
Legacy and liberation: an ode to the Greats
GABRIJELA SKOKO
MiC Senior Editor