I don’t of any other way
to begin this entry than to say how terribly disappointed I am right now in our
society. I am well aware of the political dysfunction, racism, sexism, forced
occupation and other human rights violations that take place in our world
today. However at this moment, I am deeply disturbed by the current events
surrounding boxing champion, Floyd Mayweather. In short, recording artist 50
cent, has taken the popularity of the ALS ice bucket challenge and instead
challenged his alleged former friend, Mayweather to read 1 page of a book; the
implication being that Floyd can't read. (I liberally use the word "alleged" because both men have made overwhelming riches largely by masterfully promoting
and over-hyping feuds, sometimes even fabricating rivalries
altogether). Soon after, a New York radio station released previously
unheard audio of what is alleged to be Floyd Mayweather struggling to read a
radio promo. What followed next was a wave of millions sharing videos, pictures
and posts that mocked Mayweather's apparent struggles.
It Didn't "Get Better"
I know that
there are millions of people out there who have found strange joy and pleasure
in rubbing Floyd’s nose in his own alleged reading
deficiencies. Some of you may have innocently and naively jumped on the bandwagon, thinking
that it’s nothing more than good fun. Some may have an understandable disdain
for some of Mr. Mayweather’s personal indiscretions that include his history of
domestic assault and his own viral bully tactics (remember when he thought it
was cute to take pictures with Rick Ross’son?) There are some
who may simply believe that what goes around comes around. Now that may have
some truth to it but regardless of his previous actions, our collective glee
where adult illiteracy and reading challenges are concerned is disturbing
and dangerous for a number of reasons and it says a lot more about us than it
does about him.
It Didn't "Get Better"
We are such
fickle human beings aren't we? Remember a couple years ago? Remember what
seemed like an unprecedented wave of children and teens taking their lives
because of the pressure and depression that came with bullying in the internet
age? Millions rushed to their keyboards, cellphones and cameras to type, tweet
and record words of comfort and to petition those who suffered to trust that
“it gets better”.
No, Floyd Mayweather is
not a child, but a viral campaign to mock an adult’s inability to read at a
certain level of proficiency bullying. Period.
We
automatically rush to the defense of so called “nerds” and smart kids who are
bullied for having an unquenchable thirst for academia. But who in the hell is
going to speak out for those who are traumatized and victimized by the much
more pervasive crime that comes from the scorn and stigma that haunts children
and adults who struggle with learning??!
What’s
worse, is that while we celebrate a man’s lack of quality education with
laughter, vine parodies and Kevin Hart memes, we foolishly forget that many of
us are responsible for the conditions that create and promote adult illiteracy.
Started From Under The Bottom
Floyd Mayweather is a product of a complicated upbringing between New Brunswick, NJ and Grand Rapids Michigan. As a result, Mayweather did not finish high school. He dropped out. And even though I could detail the economic struggles of cities like New Brunswick and states like Michigan, it almost doesn't matter where he’s from. Floyd Mayweather is an American and we know that in America, more times than not, one’s access to a quality education goes hand in glove with, with your zip code, tax bracket and your race. For centuries, this country has been shamefully insolvent when it comes to providing equal access to quality education. We have failed Floyd Mayweather Jr. and many Americans long ago with our complacency and because of our negligence to desegregate, depoliticize and demonetize education access.
Started From Under The Bottom
Floyd Mayweather is a product of a complicated upbringing between New Brunswick, NJ and Grand Rapids Michigan. As a result, Mayweather did not finish high school. He dropped out. And even though I could detail the economic struggles of cities like New Brunswick and states like Michigan, it almost doesn't matter where he’s from. Floyd Mayweather is an American and we know that in America, more times than not, one’s access to a quality education goes hand in glove with, with your zip code, tax bracket and your race. For centuries, this country has been shamefully insolvent when it comes to providing equal access to quality education. We have failed Floyd Mayweather Jr. and many Americans long ago with our complacency and because of our negligence to desegregate, depoliticize and demonetize education access.
Where we have failed, Floyd placed his hands in gloves and was both talented enough
and fortunate enough to have been able to create a way out for himself, his
family and all other friends along the way who he has been able to support with
the hundreds of millions of dollars that he has earned in his career.
So let me get this straight. You turn on the news. You
complain about the state of our children and the seeming hopelessness of their
future. You turn on the documentary“Waiting For Superman” and shake your head “no” in disbelief
and outrage perhaps even sheding a tear because of the brokenness of the
educational system in America. But when the evidence of the broken system that
you disapprove of shows up in the form of a thirty-something year old,
millionaire athlete, you laugh? No, the joke is on you and on all of us.
What is
equally hypocritical is that many of us watch boxing. And if you don’t, chances
are that you watch MMA, pro wrestling, or football. And even in the event that
you maintain the position that you don’t like sports, there is still a great
chance that you have gone to a bar, club, Super Bowl host city, or Las Vegas to
participate in some the activities that help to justify the monetization of
volatile sports.
Now boxing,
wrestling, mma and football are known as "contact sports"; athletic
contests that require the participants to collide into each other like bowling
balls into pins. The brain trauma, cognitive failures and even occasional death
that comes from these activities has been well documented. Yet, we still watch
in revelry while removing our empathy from the participants themselves. Unless
of course his name is Muhammad Ali. When the great human being and life force
that is Muhammad Ali displays mental struggles that are the result of the show
he put on for us, we feel sadness. While we admire the bravery with which he
fought the American government and now, Parkinson's syndrome triggered by his
boxing career, we meet his health decline with heartwarming empathy and regret.
So let me ask you this. What is the difference between a man who struggles with articulation because of interrupted brain stimulation and a man who struggles to articulate himself because he wasn't stimulated enough? I’ll let you answer that for yourself. Nevertheless, our audacity to laugh at another's pain is truly appalling.
The Donkeys Of Today
Then there are the cowards at New York City’s 105.1 FM, specifically
Then there are the cowards at New York City’s 105.1 FM, specifically
Dj Envy, Angela Yee and Charlemagne;
a collective that goes by the moniker “The Breakfast Club”. For a show that on
many occasions promotes certain topics and themes that add no substantive value
to our society to then position itself as anti intellectualism is truly
amazing. For a show that ego strokes certain artists, reality TV stars,
celebrity personalities and pseudo-porn stars, all of whom have varying levels
of intelligence, to then single out Floyd Mayweather is inconsistent. And for a
show whose website positions their “Hoe Hall of Fame” directly next to the
Black History Month section to then turn around and pretend to be the bastions
of higher learning is both dangerous and despicable.
Now “The Club” has
been incredibly successful in appealing to the desires of a gossip/scandal/celebrity obsessed culture. Because of this, The Breakfast Club and the digital cabinet of
poison known as worldstarhiphop, have positioned themselves as one of the most
popular online sources of celebrity news and hip-hop/viral entertainment. One of their signature segments is "The Donkey of the Day", an approximately 3-5 minute verbal undressing of whoever Charlamagne has decided has made a mule's behind of themselves.
Anyone who has heard or
seen The Club's popular radio show before is very familiar with their jive. DJ
Envy and Angela Yee play the roles of the “good cops” (and by good cops I
mean silent instigators) while the “bad cop”, Charlemagne, masquerades as the
no holds barred, indiscriminate keeper of all things real. But very rarely does
keep anything truly real.
You
see, Charlemagne often picks low hanging fruit. Meaning he pokes his
chest out and only chooses to be extremely critical of people and ideas where
it's relatively safe to do so.
So it’s not
really bold or revolutionary when he confronts Kanye West about his rantings
because he doesn't view him as a threat to his person or his ability to make
money. It isn't newsworthy when Charlemagne rants about Kim Kardashian or other
reality TV “stars” because he feels intellectually safe enough to do so. And it
isn’t brave of him and his cohorts to pile on Floyd Mayweather and his alleged
reading troubles because
#1: He knows that many
others are doing the same &
#2: He knows that Floyd
would probably face further scorn if he decided to seek reprisal against
Charlemagne and not 50 Cent.
And
if the hypocrisy and cowardice aren't damning enough, how about the phoniness and lack of professionalism? It is extremely two-faced and tacky
for Clear Channel, WWPR, and The Breakfast Club to think that it’s ok to
betray the confidentiality and trust of an individual by harmfully leaking the
recording of him trying to do you a professional favor.
The Pot Calling Out The Kettle
50 Cent obviously deserves great blame in this saga as he after all is the instigator. But surprisingly, I’m not really shocked or even angry with 50’s actions. As I mentioned earlier, a large part of his music and public persona stems from his ability to manufacture and market conflict. So to be surprised at his taking the popularity of a movement started to benefit the common good (the ice bucket challenge) and to use it for his self-serving evil is kind of like being shocked to see a peacock sporting a coat of multi-colored feathers…. It’s kind of like their thing.
What I was surprised about was 50’s lack of empathy for
adult illiteracy. I was never really a big fan of 50 as an artist. But I
will never forget the moment when I first felt such strong
empathy for him and dare I say began to root for him.
It was at the press conference held by him and Compton's native son, The Game. The press conference was to serve as an end to their ongoing feud at the time which started to get out of hand. As 50 stepped to the podium to read his prepared statement, my heart crumbled for the brother. Yes he read the words. But the slow pacing and barely there tone of voice made it clear, that 50, a man from Jamaica Queens who beat improbable odds to attain great success had a reading problem. An obvious reading problem. A tear of love and sadness formed in my eye as I saw the man in obvious discomfort. Now I guess maybe he improved his literacy out of the necessity for his then growing film career and his own commendable desire to improve expand himself. I just don't see why he now assumes the authority to insult another's difficulty. But I suppose that even when you have seemingly conquered your pain, hurt people still hurt people.
It was at the press conference held by him and Compton's native son, The Game. The press conference was to serve as an end to their ongoing feud at the time which started to get out of hand. As 50 stepped to the podium to read his prepared statement, my heart crumbled for the brother. Yes he read the words. But the slow pacing and barely there tone of voice made it clear, that 50, a man from Jamaica Queens who beat improbable odds to attain great success had a reading problem. An obvious reading problem. A tear of love and sadness formed in my eye as I saw the man in obvious discomfort. Now I guess maybe he improved his literacy out of the necessity for his then growing film career and his own commendable desire to improve expand himself. I just don't see why he now assumes the authority to insult another's difficulty. But I suppose that even when you have seemingly conquered your pain, hurt people still hurt people.
Complacency By The Numbers
Illiteracy and learning disabilities in general are no laughing
matter!
According
to Department of Education, National
Institute of Literacy’s 2013 report %14 of American Adults are
illiterate, a number that comes to some 32 million individuals.
21%
of adults read below a 5th grade
level. And those are just the stats on illiteracy. There are other learning
disabilities like dyslexia that are underrepresented in the conversation about
mis-education. According to the International Dyslexia Association, dyslexia is
the most common cause for reading, writing and spelling disabilities. Of people
with reading difficulties, some 70% are estimated to be dyslexic. Neither the
soul of our country nor the souls the persons affected can afford for us to
keep these numbers conveniently pushed into the recesses of our consciousness.
We also must stop practicing the double standard that allows us to love some in
spite of their challenges while needlessly ridiculing others.
Anthony
Hopkins
Whoopi
Goldberg
Jay
Leno
Kiera
Knightley
Steve
Jobs
Richard Branson (Chairman and founder of Virgin)
Paul Orfalea (Kinkos founder)
Charles Schwab (billionaire investment banker)
These are just a few of the public figures who have been brave enough to share their experiences, trials and triumphs with dyslexia. Much like these brave folks,Floyd Mayweather and anyone else should be afforded the opportunity to be accepted despite their learning disabilities and not suffocated by the stigma. Dyslexic, illiterate or otherwise.
Richard Branson (Chairman and founder of Virgin)
Paul Orfalea (Kinkos founder)
Charles Schwab (billionaire investment banker)
These are just a few of the public figures who have been brave enough to share their experiences, trials and triumphs with dyslexia. Much like these brave folks,Floyd Mayweather and anyone else should be afforded the opportunity to be accepted despite their learning disabilities and not suffocated by the stigma. Dyslexic, illiterate or otherwise.
As
I stated earlier, I don't know if the origins of this public shaming are
real or just another crafty publicity stunt. I don't know if Floyd Mayweather
is dyslexic, illiterate or even neither. What I do know is that despite our
best efforts to act as if we are anti-bullying or pro education reform, far too
many of us have been revealed to be contributors to the stagnation on both of
these fronts. Literacy is one of the fundamental keys to the expectation of a
good quality of life. So whether it be a a prince or a prisoner, a boxer or a
banker, seek love, understanding and assistance on behalf of our brothers and
sisters with learning challenges. Or else just be a peace with the fact that
the next time you laugh at someone-else's learning struggles, as Fred Sanford
would say, it's really you who is the "big dummy".
-Love-
Sources
National Center For Learning Disabilities
World Literacy Foundation
National Center For Education Statistics
Dyslexia Stats-Learning Inside Out
HuffPost Books
HuffPost Healthy Living
Stat Brain
Business Insider
-Love-
Sources
National Center For Learning Disabilities
World Literacy Foundation
National Center For Education Statistics
Dyslexia Stats-Learning Inside Out
HuffPost Books
HuffPost Healthy Living
Stat Brain
Business Insider
