click here to read what hedz are sayin' (comments) below
(written 2010)

A child dreams of being the latest superhero. What could be wrong with that? Plenty, if the child is Black and can’t even imagine a hero the same color he or she is. It’s like this: children learn by what they see. And if it weren’t for Black media, a Black child wouldn’t see the world as it really is...
xxxxxxx— taken from early 1980 ad put out by BOCA (The Black Owned Communications Alliance)

I'm a sports hed just like the next, and if there's one thing a sports fiend likes is a rivalry; Jordan vs Dominique, Ali vs Frazier, the late-great Khallid Muhammad vs Phil Donahue (had to throw that one in).

Rivalries can be personal and even get a lil' grimy, usually bringing out the best in each other — or worse (again, referring to Donahue, who Khallid verbally annihilated). But the latest I want to build on is a rivalry that goes much deeper than the usual one, for this one involves the psychological makeup of an individual.

For starterz, I ask, 'Who is Superman?' For many, they know his alias as Clark Kent, an alien from another planet who just so happenz to look exactly like a white man. Psychologically speaking, one may also realize this Superman character is really a fictitious illusion of the caucasian male's continued wishful pursuit of god-like immortality. This is overlooked because Superman appearz to be white, yet he's not from this planet, and still considered to be a whiteman—while still an alien nonetheless. Evidence of this ludicrous belief that life outside planet Earth resembles exclusively, their genetically recessive selves. What's also deep is the fact his sole weakness is based on melanin — or the lack thereof — in the form of green kryptonite! I could go on, but this piece is not about him…

This is about how Superman became psychologically an intrical part in the realm of sports, in particular, the brewing beef between Basketball playerz, Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard.

This ain't about who's more dominate in the paint or even who's more intimidating on defense, this is about two American-Afrikan[1] men sadly caught up in one of global white supremacy's most successful war tactics: the conditioning of Afrikan people to want to be something we simply are not… white!

Some may immediately think this is a far reach, in disbelief that Shaq and Dwight are tryin' to "out-white" each other by calling themselves the original Superman or walking out of phone booths at Slam-Dunk contests. As said, it's psychological — a deep mental sickness the world-over sufferz from due mainly to YTs strong hold in the field of media and entertainment (which include schools, publications, television, etc).

I thought back to when I was a kid, remembering the superhero's I aspired to mock — realizing all of them were white. Even though the Brown Hornet (from Bill Cosby's 'Fat Albert' cartoon) was around, I didn't see him as one to be taken seriously. Naw, I wanted to be Batman, Spiderman, even Thor! In fact, the only superhero of "color" I did like was Hulk and we all know he was all brawn and no brain — even though his alter-ego, Bruce Banner, was a Scientist (see the subliminal racizm here: when he's white, he has a brilliant mind, damn near a Rhodes Scholar, but when his melanin is turned on changing him to green, he becomes drastically less intelligent, yet physically, he can lift anything). Point being, most of my choices outside of white men were basically non-existent for even a child knowz being "dumb" ain't the popular choice!

In most cases, hedz will see this simply as innocent child-play. And even though I seriously beg to differ, the severity of it isn't fully manifested until we look at the case of Shaq & Dwight. See, it's one thing for children to wannabe Superman, even a teenager; but for two, financially well-off grown men (one almost 40) to become so deeply attached they'll use his symbol everywhere — including on one's body — gives the word 'impersonate' a whole different meaning! It also showz that money really can't buy freedom, at least from your mind!

If you're not familiar of their beef, here's a brief synopsis:

• Shaq came into the NBA in 1992, as the #1 pick of the Orlando Magic. Soon after, he got the Superman logo tattooed on his bicep and started callin' himself by that name. In '95, he led the Magic to their first NBA Finals. He later left the Magic, joining the Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns and now playz next to LeBron James in Cleveland.
• Dwight came into the league as the #1 pick also by the Magic in 2004. In 2008, during All-Star weekend in New Orleans, he won the Slam-Dunk contest, largely impart to his appeal to the audience by taking off from the foul line, and appearing to make the dunk wearing Superman's cape. This escalated the following year when Nate Robinson, dressed in kryptonite green, dunked over Howard, winning the Slam-Dunk contest in Phoenix. A rivalry was born…

The beef apparently escalated when an ESPN commercial came out with Sport Analyst, Hannah Storm, posing as Lois Lane and Dwight as Clark Kent, prompting Shaq to make public comments to the media of his dislike to the point of taking credit of being the original Superman, "I can't be impressed by something I invented in '92. I mean, you look at what he is doing, I've been there and done that… Until he wins three, four championships, then we can talk about him. But right now, he is just like every other big guy: 'You can run and jump, but you haven't won yet."

Take a moment and look at the picture above. This appeared in Anthony Browder's book, 'Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization' (p.241). I remember the first time I saw the ad and after reading the caption was moved by the power of imagery.

The picture alone captures the symbolic spell white media cast on the entire world decades, and perhaps, centuries ago, effectively because Afrikan people have little to no heroes at all. The real one's who fight for our freedom wind up dead, while those who continue the spiral degradation of our people maintain the relentless pursuit of the theorem of C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me) have become the example.

The will to emulate these white characterz (and whitefolk in general) prove our desire as Afrikanz to have positive images that represent us, but because most have not recognized teh grip global white supremacy has had on us, we don't see we suffer from mentacide — a merged term meaning mental suicide eloquently defined by the late, Dr. Bobby Wright, as "the planned and systematic destruction of a group's mentality aimed at the destruction of the group." Afrikanz alienated from their culture and history eventually lose their sense of purpose and direction — the symptomz of Mentacide.

Couple the overt and more effective, covert, techniques which includes the abduction of our Ancestorz for manual labor as early as 1444AD, removing the drum and names, replacing it with european one's, promoting us from physical to mental slavery post-1865AD, creating financial dependence crippling independent Afrikan countries ability to be self-reliant (like the IMF - International Monetary Fund), the creation of multiple 'black-faced-but-eurocentric-based' organizationz like the NAACP, Urban League, HBCUs (Historical Black Colleges & Universities) and, of course, fraternity and sororities; when you look at just this small list, you can see there's been an ongoing assault in erasing the Afrikanz will to truly "Know Thyself" and our history.

Trust, there are hundredz, if not thousandz more tactics in play like the socio-economic divide between us and whitefolk (although we make up some 13% of america, there are more of us impoverished than YT… by design), the Tuskegee Experiment, the assassination of those who fought for our born right to freedom (Steven Biko, Patrice Lumumba, Malcolm, Martin), and the more recent attention that's been brought to the gentrification (more like a forced exodus) of urban cities, as well as the hidden history as to why Haiti, an independent Afrikan country, is the poorest on the planet.

Instead, we are given daily dosages of white supremacy in 10 Areas of People Activity[2]:

1) Economics — Afrikan people in the U.S. have the largest spending power, yet produce less than 1% of all goodz.

2) Education — over 99% of educational institutionz are ran by as well as stand on eurocentric values.

3) Entertainment — take a look at all the magazines that show YT as the figment of beauty, or when watching tv, take 5 minutes and count how many white folk you see and compare with people of color. And of the roles played by Afrikanz, how many are comedic, criminal or sexually promiscuous? In print media, take a look at all the magazines that also show YT as the focus of beauty. This has effectively trickled-down to our youth. Familiarize yourself with the infamous Doll Baby Test: 60 yearz later: http://www.tariqnelson.com/2006/10/black-kids-the-doll-test-60-years-later/

4) Health — due to lack of education, we suffer from most diseases due to ignorance of proper foodz to eat settling for the FDAs (Food AND Drug Administration—they're tellin' us they put drugz in our food) Food Pyramid and fast-food (research the sudden rise in obesity in China due to the continuing rise in fast food joints opening up there like McDonalds and Pepsi Co.).

5) Labor — Off all the college degrees Afrikanz-in-amerca possess, we work almost exclusively for european-owned and operated companies. It's been said approximately 70% of scientist's who work for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) are Afrikan. Hmmm.... think about that for a moment...

6) Law — eurocentric based system. Did you know the US. Secret Service was founded the same year Afrikanz were emancipated from physical slavery in 1865? Coincidence?? Think again!

7) Politics — this one should be self-explanatory

8) Sex — the continued degradation of women. From removing her from the original trinity, substituting her with the "Holy Ghost" (Father, Son…), to being defined on many levelz by men with chauvinistic and eurocentricly (and might I add, islamic)-laced mindsets (like the topic of abortion, gender and sexuality).

9) Religion — Dr. Wright said it best, "Because of their lack of ethical or moral development, there is no conflict between the white's religion and racial oppression. The white race had historically oppressed, exploited, and killed black people, all in the name of their god Jesus Christ and with the sanction of their churches. For example, it is generally overlooked that the Ku Klux Klan is primarily a religious organization. Also, blacks should never forget the Pope [Pius XI] blessing the Italian planes and pilots on their way to bombing Ethiopian men, women, and children who only had spears to defend themselves." This man-made belief system has most thinkin' justice will come once in heaven, while in the here and now, YT has their "heaven on earth". This is also the most sensitive of principles for you will find our very own people defending the 3 major western religionz, Christianity, Judaism and Islam .

10) War — this is the common denominator of the previous 9, all effectively bein' used as war tactics against Afrikan people the world-over. War has kept us disunited, leavin' us to think we are the "minority"; that kinky hair is a curse—remedy being, to straighten your hair; that lighter skin is preferred over dark skin; that thinner noses, breast implants, colored contacts, booty and lip reduction is beautiful (while the opposite for YT) — the list goes on… And if that's not enough, they infiltrate our homeland (KMT, South Afrika, etc) and neighborhoodz (Bed-Stuy Brooklyn, Harlem, etc) via gentrification or an outright takeover (look at the history behind the building of the Aswan Dam in KMT, where inhabitants who opposed the dam and refused to leave their homeland were drowned by euro invaderz becoming part of one of the oldest and greatest civilizationz ever that sit under water).

I guarantee if we re-examined and adopted these 10 areas as core values that cater to our needz, we'd be on the path of self-reliance.

This is the root of Shaq and Dwights beef. If they both are insightful enough to realize this, we will refrain from tryin' to mimic YTs fictitious wayz, tryin' to be 'god-like' and just be the 'Godz' we naturally are. Bless...

[1] We need a quick revision between nounz and adjectives: American-Afrikan is correct, not Afrikan-American. 'Afrikan' is the noun, or what I am (the continent my lineage originates from), and the type of Afrikan I am is one who lives in 'America', which is the adjective. Think, if we all named ourselves this way around the world (Jamaican-Afrikan, Canadian-Afrikan, etc), maybe then we'd have a more universal approach to Afrikan liberation.

[2] The '10 Areas of People Activity' was created by Drs. Neilly Fuller and Francess Cress-Welsing. Although it is officially known as the '9 Areas...", there are Afrikan scholarz who recently added Health, making it 10.

Read more from our Current and R-Kyvz Vault