To the tick-tock and you don’t stop. Writing for my life. And perhaps yours. Disturbing the peace in order to find it. No sleep ’til Crooklyn. Let’s get free.

Apr 23, 2016

Purple Interlude

[Photo description: A screencapture of a split screen TV shot. On the left, a man, Anderson Cooper, wearing glasses, seen from the chest up, looking at the camera. On the right, a man, Stevie Wonder facing slightly to the right, wearing sunglasses, frowning. The caption reads: Steve Wonder Remembers Prince.]

That Anderson Cooper interview with Stevie Wonder regarding Prince’s death bothered me.

It reminded me of those studies that indicate that white people don’t think black people feel pain. (There are numerous studies supporting this. Google it if you don’t believe me.)

I mean like: A friend of yours just died suddenly, out the blue, and here’s this white man asking you to sing a little jig, in front of everybody, for his amusement, like you’re not in mourning, like you ain’t frowning and holding back the tears through the entire interview.

They’re like:

“Nah. N*gg*rs ain’t human enough to feel a complex emotion like sadness. Sing, darkie. Sing!”

The response seems almost like reflex with them.

And Stevie had to be kind enough to not ask Anderson to kiss his entire ass in front of millions of viewers. So his voice cracked and he reminded Anderson that black people actually have hearts.

It always comes down to that, doesn’t it? Even with the so-called liberal ones, we’re valued most for our ability to entertain them.

FOH with that mess.