We all have something that we are passionate about. Whether it is a personal inspiration, someone you hold dearly, a principle that you feel should not be infringed upon, or a necessity in your community that you know has to be preserved. To you, it’s something worth living for, worth protecting. Let’s examine a few as of late.
Lavar Ball’s Big Baller Brand
Media personality and father of three basketball players, Lavar Ball’s Big Baller Brand has been under attack for a while now. He’s seen backlash from his shoe prices, which were sold for over $450. I know it was very high, but I understood the move. I respected the “shoot for the stars, land on a cloud” strategy. Then I started to pay attention to the rumors of Lebron James going to the Lakers. I thought to myself, “that’s one of Nike’s marketing cash cows. That’s going to instantly put a dark cloud over the Big Baller Brand and Lonzo Ball Jr.”
I just want to point out that while Lebron is owned by Nike, BBB is Black-owned. Just saying. Then boom, it happens — Lonzo gets traded to New Orleans, an extremely small market. Lebron and Nike moves in and preserves the clinch on America’s sneakerheads. Then, BBB was seen selling shirts for $5 in comparison to it’s normal $50 online. Is the company at its end or will it make the price adjustments needed to survive?
I feel we should support them while the prices are low. We should support one of ours who showed great guts and business suave to put Blacks in the position of ownership among sportswear giants! Take a stand for Black business and it’s entrepreneurs.
BDS Movement
Another interesting wave is the BDS Movement, or “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement”. It’s a Palestinian-led movement for “freedom, justice, and equality”. It consists of unions, academic associations, churches, and grassroots movements across the world. It’s well-represented well by very strong women as well, like Rep. Ilhman Omar (Democrat Representative of Minnesota). They stand against “Israel’s occupying and colonizing Palestinian land. Discrimination against Palestinian citizens. Also the denying of Palestinian refugees the right to return to their home” [bdsmovement.net].
Let’s stand for Indigenous People’s rights, land, and heritage. I feel that this issue fits in the same arena of reparations. It’s similar suffering that Blacks went through. That is what BDS seems to be trying to prevent in Palestine.
Murder of Sadie Roberts-Jospeh
A saddening story, the murder of Sadie Roberts-Joseph on July 12th. She was a Baton Rouge activist and founder of the Odell S. Williams Now and Then African American Museum.
We’ve been seeing many cases of our leaders and people killed with reports not adding up. The requisition for a stand against the assault on our culture and its figures, small or large, is just as important to our survival as the stoppage of our own self-destruction.
War on Islam and Immigration
The war on Islam continues to heat up in America and abroad. In America, attacks against the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan continues. People have showed support via social media, as well as “real” news outlets by exposing the assault on his work of uniting those that want justice.
Abroad, Uyghur Muslims in China are being put in detention centers and camps. The camps are portrayed as schools for a form of “re-educating or indoctrination”. 1-2 million of these people who are minority natives to Asia are held in these camps. Will these tactics come to the Western world, knowing that America is ever watching one of it’s greatest competition for global domination? Shouldn’t all respected religions be worth standing for?
Back home in America, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Agents are abruptly snatching so-called immigrants from their homes and places of work (ex. Kansas City ICE raids), sometimes not even having the legal authority to remove them by force. ICE’s responsibility as a federal law enforcement agency is said to “prevent immigration and unlawful traffic of goods into the U.S. along with securing the borders.” Is this the right thing to do to a people that helped build this country and are just as indigene as anyone else to these lands?
Looking at the big picture, the assault is on everyone. So it is imperative for everyone who wants justice to take a stand together.
