I was halfway watching the television when I came home last week and saw out of the corner of my eye a young brother run and grab a reporter’s mic and yell something I could not quite understand.
I had been dealing with a week’s worth of youth apathy, so for a moment I got excited. Could this be a real, live activist I had just witnessed?
Snoop Dog recently appeared on stage with a hologram image of Tupac. Could this could be a sign of a new movement?
Could this media vigilante I had just witnessed be a new Malcolm or Martin in the making? Could some of our youth finally be coming to understand their power, voice and purpose?
I quickly changed from my work clothes into some shorts and T-shirt as the news show went to commercial with a promise that they would run the story again after the break. I sat back and daydreamed: What if this young guy were an up-and-coming leader of his generation?
The commercial was over and I was taken out of my young-hero daydreaming when the news channel was back and they were about to run the story again. I turned up the volume and leaned toward the television so as not to miss a moment of this young revolutionary caught on tape. The media story was so brief it was like a youth activist Bigfoot sighting.
The anchor started with the story by saying one of their reporters was covering a story in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and that a young Charlotte man was put in jail after yelling an outburst on live television.
Outburst, my Aunt Fanny, I thought. Surely this was a war cry from a generation of pissed-off, angry and disenfranchised youth!
The anchor continued by saying that the Charlotte youth was apprehended shortly after the incident. (See the news report.)
I thought: What fascist was trying to silence the voice of this young radical?
I sat there smoldering at the thought of this young Charlotte home-grown freedom fighter locked up in some jail. I was just about to start a FB campaign for his release when the reporter continued:
Taylor was not seriously hurt after the push and was back at work on Thursday.
Moore interrupted the reporter, took the microphone and yelled the "N" word on television.”
(Insert record scratch sound and tape rewind)
Hold up! Did I just hear the anchor correctly?
I could not fathom that my young, would-be Malcolm X, future leader of the young Black Panther movement had just used his prime opportunity for digital media social activism and what does he yell? The “N” word?
Really?
First of all, he physically pushed a woman and then he absolutely wasted an opportunity for free meaningful speech.
He did not yell “No Justice, no peace’”
He did not rally a call for “President Obama for a second term”
He did not scream “We will not forget you, Trayvon Martin”
He did not rant about the unfairness of now charging us for honey mustard at Wendy’s.
He did not even speak in protest of yet another season of “Meet the Browns.”
I was absolutely done and through. I went in just a few moments from believing we might have a new Tupac on our hands, but all I got was some fool acting out on live television.
I was caught up in the intoxicating freedom of youth, revolution and individual expression.
My brief streak of rebellion was squelched as I settled on the couch to endure yet another night of “Dancing with the Stars.” (Once Gladys Knight was kicked off I pretty much lost interest.)
But then I had a fleeting, albeit exciting, thought.
Not that it would be right, but just for a moment imagine there you are 20 years old and you are bold enough to grab the mic during a live broadcast and express yourself -- hopefully with something more meaningful than the “N” word -- what would you say?
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