Most recently, Hood Communist editor Salifu Mack sat down with Kali Akuno for an interview discussing his longtime and current movement work. During the interview, Kali talked about his days in the early ‘90s attempting to get organic African based revolutionary broadcasting networks set up. The reason? Kali noted that at that particular time there was an emerging organized right-wing formation on broadcast radio. “…it became very clear to me by 1990 that ‘the right’ was on that. I’d be going to some of these training [sessions] and I’d be right next to skinheads and clan members and all these . . .
Pop Culture
I’m Sick of the Oscars, Will Smith, and Chris Rock
As usual, the blatant hypocrisy of the capitalist system is so sickening it turns my stomach. And, it should turn yours also. Just to be clear, I don’t care one bit about Will Smith, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett-Smith, the Oscars, the U.S. government, capitalism, any of it. I’m sick of the people claiming that Will Smith was defending African women. If you really think a stupid, spontaneous, and emotionally generated reaction (if it was even authentic) is a strong example of defending African women than that goes a long way in explaining why African women are never defended in the . . .
TikTok & “Anti-Social” Media
Short videos have the ability to effortlessly expose mundane ills of capitalism. On the other hand, the premise of these exposés are often to make viewers laugh or make the creator profit, thus overshadowing the actual ills and exploitations they seek to illuminate; or, in other instances, the videos are simply so decontextualized and seemingly ‘random’ that viewers find themselves simply saying “that’s horrible” before swiping up. . . .
Dave Chappelle & The Dishonesty of the African Petit-Bourgeoisie
If you want to really be impressive, figure out how create some jokes that attack the system that’s oppressing all of us. I can tell you already, that will never happen because doing that would do nothing for Chappelle except bring some systemic wrath down upon him and that’s clearly not what he’s trying to do. Again, he said it himself, he’s rich and famous, and at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about for him. If his so-called back and forth with the LGBTQ community hadn’t caused him some personal discomfort, whether he admits it or not, he wouldn’t even be talking about any of this. That should be all you need to know to realize he’s not speaking out to speak up for the African masses against white supremacy. He’s only doing what people like him always do, using the African masses to advance themselves. . . .
Dating Apps: Capitalism & Isolation as the Norm
Like many single people, I’ve invested time over the last year or so in various dating apps. I’d used them off and on before that, but never for any extended period of time. Over the last year I’ve learned some things that I didn’t understand before. First, unlike many people, I believe that every action I take is guided by ideology. A lot of people don’t believe that because they probably don’t understand what’s meant by the term ideology. It simply means the values behind the thoughts that drive your actions. Using that definition, it’s difficult for anyone to seriously . . .
Dave Chappelle and the Disposability of Poor Black People
The fact that Dave Chappelle grew up in a professional class setting and now holds millionaire status should cause viewers to interrogate the class components of his standup. Not having an intimate connection with the poor Black communities who may be harmed by his rhetoric is a feature of his class privilege. . . .
A Critical Review of “Blood Brothers” on Netflix
The Netflix produced documentary “Blood Brothers – Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali” is the latest example of their efforts to exploit our unwillingness to critically study our own history in ways that would force us to learn to think outside of the paradigms that they provide for us. . . .
“Candyman” and the Impact of White Supremacy
That long history of racist violence against Black men is told in cleverly laid-out shadow puppetry, which simultaneously removes the physical gruesomeness of the acts portrayed while delivering their inhumane brutality. Each shadow-puppet story relates to a different iteration of Candyman, and the collective trauma of centuries of violent racist brutality against Black men turns the Candyman figure into something other than a villain. Terrifying in his visage and actions, certainly, but the question emerges as the connections are made between this history and the urban legend come to life: Is Candyman the monster, or is the monster what created Candyman? . . .