EDITORIAL

 

Black youth sagging get fined or jail time; white anti-face maskers, no penalty 

by  Edmond Davis

Historically, what is more dangerous to Americans? Sagging jeans in public spaces, or not wearing a face mask in the age of COVID-19 in public places? 

How many Americans have compromised health issues from ‘Sagging Pants Syndrome’ (SPS)? What’s the CDC’s death count on SPS in southern ‘red states’? Thousands are criminalized for freedom of expression and the majority are African American males (6% of the U.S. population). Towns have orchestrated ordinances against sagging, but no statewide or national legislation yet. Wildwood, NJ; Jefferson Parrish, LA; Pikeville, TN; New Orleans, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Miami and Jacksonville, Fla all have entertained similar policies disproportionately affecting Black males in ways that are MIA -or- Marginalizing-Ignoring-Avoiding them of their rights. Lawmakers in South Carolina wanted to fine people for wearing sagging pants with a House Bill 4957 Session 122. It would make it illegal for a person to wear pants “sagging more than three inches below his ileum,” according to the South Carolina Legislature’s website. Lawmakers have amended laws to include interpretations. Laws that criminalize sagging have long been considered racist and unconstitutional. According to data obtained by the Shreveport Times 726 arrests for sagging in Shreveport, LA. since the original ordinance passed in 2007. 96% of those arrested were African American males. Shreveport was one of many municipalities that banned sagging since the year 2000, but it was repealed. Mostly southern cities proposed such laws under the guise of regulating public decency of this rogue fashion. The opponents to sagging use ethnic intimidations and feed stereotypical fear-tactics like saying it was part of the gang way of life or prison culture. Cities in Georgia, Mississippi, New Jersey, South Carolina and other parts of Louisiana still have anti-sagging ordinances on the book. In Massachusetts, a law that’s been on the books for hundreds of years, amended in 1987 General Laws Chapter 272, Section 16 punishes the crime of ‘Open and Gross Lewdness and Lascivious Behavior’ with imprisonment in the House of Corrections for up to 2 years or in the State Prison for up to 3 years. It's Ambiguous yet can be used for sagging. 

Sagging jeans don’t equate to sagging morals but refusing to wear a mask can be deadly and is selfish. When an employee requests you to wear a facemask, the ‘KRAKEN’ Karen is released! The real social ills are committed by individuals who don’t wear masks, but they’re not criminalized. Sagging hasn’t put anyone at risk, but not wearing a mask is harmful and can be deadly to the immunocompromised (African Americans, Hispanics and the elderly).   

The death of George Floyd on social media showed Whites in real-time what African Americans have experienced for generations with systemic racism in policing. COVID-19 shows how white privilege weaponized coughing and smart devices have positioned privacy as a past commodity. From COVID Parties, vocal anti-maskers to the carnage of coughing Karens’, Houston, we have a problem! This overwhelmingly White demographic indirectly infects many, unintentionally kills some, and traumatized others without accountability. Responses to these seemingly pro-COVID tactics are unjustly delayed, unlike sagging. 

SOLUTIONS: (1) Incentivize masked Americans with discounts on various items (food, clothing, rent, movie tickets, automobile insurance, & gas) deemed essentials. (2) Fines for not wearing a mask should be the same for sagging ranged from $25 to $600. (3) Community Service hours from 32 to 40, and (4) even time served in a jail or prison up to 6 months depends on data from contact tracing. (5) As a health-based sociocultural lesson anti-maskers should be denied access into all public places with a sign saying, “Masks Only.” They can understand what African Americans during Jim Crow felt like when they saw a sign that said “Whites Only” when entering stores, restaurants, and parks.

I don’t like sagging, but I won’t criminalize it. I wear them to protect others and my family in the United States of America. Black men face a different kind of scrutiny even with masks, not sagging. The double-standard of racism is why the anti-mask patriots have no accountability in the Undisciplined States of America (USA).

Edmond Davis, College History Professor, Social Historian, Law Enforcement Scholar, edmondwdavis@gmail.com 318-243-9133www.edmondwdavis.com

Edmond W. Davis

Social Historian and Influencer

Phone: 318-243-9133

Email: edmondwdavis@gmail.com

Website: https://edmondwdavis.com/ 

You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP5n1yLzSE4 

@eddavisw @edmondwdavis 

Ladysmith Black Mambazo “lit up” The Center for the Humanities and Arts
By Renarda A. Williams  



It was a pure pleasure to see the five-time-Grammy-winning Ladysmith Black Mambazo perform Jan. 28, 2020 at the Center for the Humanities and Arts on the campus of the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock … especially in light of the passing of the group’s founder, Joseph Shabalala, only two weeks later.

Shabalala’s legacy is being carried on by four of his sons, who are current Ladysmith members and who — along with five other group members — performed at the Jan. 28 concert, bringing such songs as “Long Walk to Freedom” and “Hello My Baby.” This group sings a traditional music called isicathamiya (Is-Cot-A-Me-Ya), traditional music of the Zulu people. The men were true to the tradition Shabalala perfected — a "version of isicathamiya ... built on plush, bass-heavy harmonies, call-and-response drive and dramatic contrasts of soft and loud passages, along with choreography that included tiptoeing moves and head-high kicks,” wrote Jon Pareles, chief pop music critic for The New York Times, in an obituary story on Shabalala.

Accentuated by tongue clicks, the harmony mentioned is so smooth and butter-soft, the men's sound is like one voice, simultaneously divided into different parts. Who can forget Ladysmith's “Mbube Wimoweh” introduction to the 1988 film Coming to America?

I am an African American native of Louisiana and lover of New Orleans’ infectious jazz funerals and Second Line parades, both of which are marked by marching brass bands and dancing in the streets. Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s music is a capella, but their singing and dancing is no less energetic. I was so moved me that I had to resist running onstage to join the brothers.

Shabala, who passed Feb. 11, formed Ladysmith Black Mambazo under the name Ezimnyama in 1960. A farm boy, he was preparing to move to the city, Durban, to pursue his dream of leading a group of singers. In fact, it was a series of dreams Shabalala had that led to the group’s creation and development, according to the group’s entry on Wikipedia. He used the town’s name, Ladysmith, to honor the hometown of his family. The word Black was used for the oxen, the strongest animal on his family’s farm. The word Mambazo is Zulu for chopping ax, a symbol for his group to chop down anything that would try to stop them from being successful. Thus began the six-decade career of Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

During its infancy, the group won so many local South African isicathamiya singing contests, it was eventually banned from competing. In the 1970s, Ladysmith picked up steam, in 1973 releasing the first of what now numbers more than 50 albums and building its success before Paul Simon, singer-songwriter and 16-time Grammy winner, asked the men to sing on his celebrated 1986 album Graceland.

In addition to working with Simon, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has recorded with Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton and others. The group carries a message of peace, love and harmony as it travels the world year after year. In addition to its five Grammy Awards, it has distinguished itself with a total of 17 nominations.

Seeing the group brought back memories of an my introduction to Ladysmith back in the 1980s, when I watched Ladysmith's videos and performances on the BET and PBS networks. I saw the group perform with Simon who, after visiting South Africa, asked them to add their talent to Graceland. I fell in love with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and its work … especially the landmark hit “Homeless” from Graceland.

After the performance at Pulaski Tech, I had a chance to briefly chat with two of three group members who greeted guests and autographed copies of their CDs. I asked how they believed their music related to all in attendance, especially African Americans. “Our music relates to everyone,” one member replied. "It is a universal language! Everybody enjoys it! As for African Americans, we [Africans and African Americans] are the same .... We have the same rhythm ... We dance to the same music.”

Ladysmith's North Little Rock visit was part of a U.S. tour that, it had been reported, was canceled after Shabalala’s passing. But the group disputed that on its Facebook page. “This is the last thing Joseph would want his group to do,” according to a post on the page. "It is with our friends and fans that we gain our strength and fill our hearts with love. It is being with our friend and fans that we can live with this terrible pain in our lives. We are not canceling our concert tours. We will continue to celebrate the life of our father, Joseph Shabalala, as we have done since he retired in 2014.”

Ladysmith Black Mambazo members display their unique choreography.

I get a few autographs from LBM members.

My wife, Helaine Williams, with LBM members. Helaine covered the concert for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's High Profile section.