Playing your game baby

Tilted Playing Field

In the course of consensual indulgences for mutual benefit, sometimes the balance between expectations and consideration requires a renegotiation by duress if not otherwise forthcoming. For example, suppose you provide a service, and there is an insufficient acknowledgment of the value of that service. In that case, your contribution is dismissed as incidental or unnecessary to the successes or is interchangeable. The “commodity” is the foundation of a product or service.

However, devoid of the benefit of unobstructed advancement on merit, it resonates as capricious gratitude being allowed to partake in the process, not the benefit. This dampens ambition by despair due to lack of opportunity. By evaluating contributions, ambition rises above participation, breaching the levee of limitations for more meaningful recognition and reward for contributing to others’ achievements.

Imagine the “commodity” is human labor and specialized talents or skills honed and proven to be the foundation of the product or service provided, which otherwise could not be offered with the same quality. So the “commodity” and the capital are codependent, with the capital possessing the majority of the power, decision making, and designations. With the missing ingredient being capital or seed money to sustain the liquidity of the operation’s existence, talent is dependent. It is a consensual understanding for a mutual benefit until the arrangement has progressed beyond the original terms or either becomes no longer necessary.

The original terms being firmly at the discretion of the capital providers refusing to mitigate the conditions leaves two options. Express dissatisfaction while bemoaning for change and patiently waiting for redress or removing yourself and your contribution from the scenario. Patiently bemoaning at least provides participation while disassociation invites replacement.

To better understand the options, if the “commodity” is disrupted and irreplaceable, the capital would be more amenable to the changes to preserve their interest and investment. But, on the other hand, if disassociation of talent is tendered, a viable option would have to be available. Perhaps made available by your ingenuity having everything except the capital, but what if you had a succession plan, the resolve, and the capital. Then what?

The enterprising spirit undertaken to create the situation you decided to separate from is the calculated risk needed. It is the same spirit that can propel your ambitions forward. Why can’t you do for yourself what you were doing for someone else? Uncertainty? Of what? Like Heavy D and the Boys rapped, “We got our own thang.” Get up and do your thang.

You can witness a movement, be part of a movement, start a movement, or be the movement. The movement is to increase the residual benefits of actions already undertaken by doing them somewhere else or leveraging the prospect of doing so elsewhere. So, quit pump faking when you can take your shot. Deliver unto yourself what you request in vain and wait indefinitely to be provided. The inducement has been profoundly provoked and repeatedly aggravated. To remain is a choice.

This applies to any situation you may find yourself confronted with, but I have something specific in mind. Everything is irrational when first proposed if the possibility is foreign or uncomfortable, but not to the fearless visionary and cold calculator. Sports are a melding of many facets of life and bonding. It also generates billions of dollars on the collegiate and pro levels, not to mention merchandise and gambling implications.

According to the US Department of Education, there are 107 HBCU’s operating in the United States. Those with D1 athletic programs in football and basketball can upset collegiate athletics by a swing in the “commodity” they attract. For example, the flamboyant visionary mind of Coach Prime with the brazen audacity to think we can compete with the big boys first by recruitment and then by performance has proven the premise.

With the advent of NIL’s and the transfer portals, the landscape of HBCUs resources, valuations, and academic outreach can multiply with two changes. The ability to accommodate the expansion and attract the “commodity.” The “commodity” or student-athletes have an opportunity to affect social justice simply by where they choose to play sports.

If enough talent commits, national recognition and championships will follow the talent. What Black talent provides to most of the largest universities in the country, some with racist and slavery participating histories, they can provide to the institutions created as a refuge combating Black people exclusion from education.   

Furthermore, an accurate portrayal of history would undoubtedly be encouraged and transparency less problematic, not to mention the cultural affirmation. The insidious and exploitive undertones enjoyed by non-HBCUs can be converted to create a legacy of athletics, academics, and resources. Essentially, an irrepressible movement. Black Lives Matter should mean that Black Talent Matters and where that talent is displayed. NIL especially makes this lucrative for individual athletes and HBCUs. 

The resources, sponsorships, amenities, media coverage, merchandise, fame, and more will be flooded upon the athletes of current pioneers like Coach Prime, Rampaging Eddie George, and others who establish this transformative opportunity. The legendary Coach Eddie Robinson comes to mind, among others, as a keeper of the aspiration until the circumstance were ripe as they are now. Time has taken its place and this space and time are unprecedented. However, if some would not support or respect the freedom of choice now prevalent in collegiate sports, we could fill that void by creating solutions to satisfy our needs. 

The rallying cry would certainly be answered by former pros, HOF players, volunteers, business leaders, businesses, academics, and celebrities to pridefully coach and mentor HBCU talent. The response and support can revitalize the surrounding businesses, community, and campuses with the talent concentrated. Entertainment and concerts could be incorporated to generate additional revenue sharing and venue fees. Fundraisers similar to Farm Aid, Telethons, and We are the World can be organized to benefit HBCUs directly. Consider if a musician made a smash fire song and donated the proceeds to HBCUs or if many artists did the same. What about a tour?

There is no limit to the possibilities of concerts, Versus type events such as sponsored by Tim and Beatz, or live streaming prospects. The fashion and culture statement popularizing HBCU gear would leave no doubt about what culture we promote. Make HBCU apparel as popular as Timberland boots or other designer items so coveted and supported by Blacks. The elevation of aspirations requires that we make the fashion instead of just wearing it, becoming producers instead of just consumers. The impact would be directed towards achieving the goal we so willingly protest for but are unwilling to support using our economic muscle. 

The resulting entrepreneurial initiative and investment would ensure a vibrant microcosm of prosperity similar to Black Wallstreet, providing allowances for student subsidies, facility improvements, and overall Black condition. I propose making Juneteenth a fundraising event for HBCUs, giving the date meaning and producing practical gains instead of the current masquerade.

Celebrating Juneteenth by stimulating the economy for all and purchasing t-shirts adds zero meaning or purpose to this hollow holiday. Why not gather resources instead of spending them? Why not embrace a resolution to harvest measurable progress towards real Black freedom? The masses of ordinary people possess the power when moving in unison as a concentrated initiative. 

Supporting HBCUs would expand academic growth, producing more representation in politics, medicine, business, and investments. If the programs are not offered, create them. If they exist, improve them to rival the best offered anywhere. Internships would supplement the educational value with practical guidance and experience.

Talent is the innovation and equalizer when appropriately focused. Self-awareness is knowing where the self ends and being aware of circumstances beyond yourself having an impact on a grand scale. It is not about you but the future of us. Talent and how it is utilized tilts the playing field like nothing else. Look at Nike. The representation of talent is what they really sell. 

Talent can create ownership and distribution percentages shared across the HBCU spectrum to schools other than the D1 participants to dominate the other divisions or benefit from the D1 capital successes. So why is inclusion in someone else’s prosperity more important at the exclusion of your own because they have finally accepted your talent or revenue for their benefit?

To build the social justice sought, protesting in the streets has its limitations. Protest in the pockets, balance sheets, fiscal projections, and boardrooms provides quantitative incentives and deterrents. In addition, HBCUs would be open to whoever chose to enroll there, fully embracing all contributions as valuable to its success.

Those who benefited can tithe a percentage of their prosperity. The investment generating returns, loosely structured, similar to a student loan or donation, would secure the opportunity for those who follow. The Fab Five shook college basketball to its core. Phi Slama Jama 82 to 84 and Georgetown Hoyas from 84 to 91 frightened the NCAA basketball world.

Consider Larry Bird went to Indiana State and singlehandedly put them on the map and himself on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Nothing before or since, just the power of one player. The point is they will find you. Imagine the possibilities at an HBCU with the top talents of today consolidated. We can make Black History and establish legacies at this pivotal moment of change. Think like a boss and become the movement that shapes the future with generational reverberations. 

Likewise, pro football is especially vulnerable. Are you ready for some NFL football, the conversation that is? Let’s talk about creating an Equity Football League, a league where fairness is the standard, not the comparison. Fairness is a standard, while equality is a comparison.

A standard is easier to assess and apply being static, while a comparison is fluid by nature and subject to the changing criteria of evaluation. Impartiality should be oblivious to considerations deprived of fairness and exclude incidental irrelevancies. The Brian Flores lawsuit has pulled back the curtain on what many persons associated with the NFL already knew to be true, ownership bias exists.

 

To further extend the conversation to the pros, there seems to be an ongoing devaluation of Black’s contribution beyond the “commodity” phase proven by lack of head coaching, management, and ownership representation. The new league ownership could be constituted as a Corp, LLC, Social Club Membership, a service contract and exotic Reit, or hybrid player/public owned with revenue sharing.

Maybe owned and distributed through blockchain or subscription. Games can be played at HBCU stadiums with HBCU bands as paid entertainment or other celebrity entertainment. The players acquired from the college pipeline and free agent NFL players. Coaching and management from the excluded ranks of the NFL and college. 

It is nearly impossible to envision Black ownership in the NFL, likewise a fair percentage of Black management and head coaches where nary an eyebrow is raised either way. However, we don’t have another fifty or sixty years to wait. The Black quarterback has largely silenced the conversation of qualification and opportunity, but ownership still eludes Blacks.

It was once taboo to even imagine a Black quarterback, but now it is common. The Black NFL players and coaches directly contribute to the head coach’s success, only not to be rewarded for their contribution to that success with head coaching opportunities. Compensated but not represented in terms of a fair opportunity at the pinnacle. The compensation is not proportionate with the revenue generated because ownership is forbidden.

Suppose a Black owner was initiated in the NFL. Perhaps the top talent’s gravitation would prefer them as a destination even at a discount but assured by the talent accumulated to dominate the Superbowl and create a dynasty. Not only would it disrupt the league, owner’s valuations, and the gambling industry, it would force the NFL adaptation to remain competitive.

Being refused ownership, the alternative would be to start your own league, draining them of the talent pool they take for granted. With the entertainment value depleted, the revenue would soon follow with waning interest. Then, at the absolute best, a prosperous alternative league would emerge or a merger expanding the NFL to include the Black ownership and players.

With seventy percent of the NFL players of color, what would the NFL value be to compete with a league that gained a sizable percentage of that talent? The NFL would have to pay extreme premiums to retain the talent, further enriching the athletes depleting their monopoly, needing the “commodity” to survive financially, and increasing the number of professional players to fill the void. The goal is to create fairness, ownership participation, and redistribution of wealth, not segregation. 

There is precedent for Blacks creating their own equity and entities to rival any others using leverage and intelligence. Reginald F. Lewis was as respected as any American businessman of the highest degree.  His ownership and entrepreneurial initiative were demonstrated and achieved during a more tumultuous and discriminatory time than now becoming one of the richest Black men in modern America during the 1980s. He was the first Black American to build a billion-dollar company, TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. 

Furthermore, there are sports examples where alternative Black enterprises and individuals leveraged talent, intelligence, and dignity to retort exclusion. The Negro League produced teams comparable and superior to MLB and an influx of talent, including Jackie Robinson. The Harlem Globetrotters is another example, including the likes of Wilt Chamberlain. The Living Legend Jim Brown rebuked ownership in his prime to dispel any misconception they controlled his dignity.

We can assemble those with the capital to circumvent the NFL ownership structure by collective endeavor and creative financing. The diversity of this effort would ensure its success. Suppose Black billionaires such as Robert Johnson of BET fame, Robert F. Smith of the investment world, media giants Byron Allen and Oprah Winfrey, Shawn Carter and Beyonce, Rihanna, and Tyler Perry invested capital and knowledge.

Furthermore, if Magic Johnson, Daymond John, Serena Williams, and an endless rollcall of billionaires and millionaires not conflicted by race contributed capital. All recognizing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity bringing a degree of accomplishment, venture capital, public money, and expertise to the table. They represent a diversity of industries able to mobilize their influence and forte in addition to capital. 

Be advised that the burden is not theirs but ours. Black leadership does not relieve us of our responsibility as a grassroots movement complementing them. We cannot rely on others, despite their color, to deliver us without our exertion as a base of engaged solidarity. There is strength in numbers, especially when resolute in objective. This is our duty to be unyielding and unified.

No contribution is too small. The sixties protest was successful for one reason, solidarity of spirit and purpose. We must be willing to risk confrontation of interest to achieve an objective. Fairness is a form of respect and likewise is assured by earning it or taking it. Anything given stands to be taken away by the giver. Thus, the creation of formidable industries demands respect and discourages opposition.    

Any creation of industries as outlets for talent and opportunities fairly distributed rejecting status quo biases provides economic empowerment and social redress. The fourteen plus percent of the Black population is significant enough to send a shiver through the economic landscape.

Utilizing our 1.6 trillion purchasing power no longer scattered promotes social justice and fairness using the language of money. Merchandising, supply chains, cable, and television rights through Black venders would diversify the benefit to Black prosperity and education. So, enter the fray with dollars in hand and resolve on display.

Once done, the challenge to their product, revenue stream, tax base, and lease obligations would humble their restrictions allowing fairness by necessity with their capital no longer needed. But unfortunately, the ongoing impulse to endure unfavorable conditions negates the possibilities of new horizons for those who are visionary and bold.

If they are so fond of a tilted playing field, then accommodate them with a tilted field but in our favor this time. I am sure there will be no hard feelings in a free market society of the fittest. The winds of change are blowing strongly. We should not resist but set our sails with the wind.

Their arrogant taunt and empty promises are if you don’t like it, what can you do about it but complain? That is where they made a colossal miscalculation if our courage to create an alternative league surpasses the frustration of exclusion from their club’s hierarchy. A King rose out of an unlikely challenge when David slew the giant Goliath. The mighty can be brought to heel with a well-placed blow.

The NFL has a very shortsighted vision of their business model or an overwhelming concession to prejudice and exclusion, dismissing the value of fairness to the “commodity.” There are many Goliaths to be slain. Track and field is another area of concentration that HBCUs could benefit from significantly. The rise of or rather suppression of women’s sports by lack of funding is also a social and economic opportunity for women to capitalize while also elevating their craft. 

The spirit of education, ownership, and self-determination manifested the HBCU to counter the exclusion from educational pursuits with no choices before that weren’t rampant with discrimination. By our ancestor’s power and tenacity, HBCUs were founded in the mid-1800s, with the first being Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1837.

Knowing the Black struggle, sufferings, and sacrifices to produce the higher learning institutions of the HBCU makes them our original Alma Mater. Therefore, HBCUs are our Alma Mater by vision, if not by attendance. 

We have always been welcome at our own thang, our HBCUs when no other would accept us. Remember that when it is time to pledge your services. Talent consolidation leads to comprehensive self-determination by revenue generation. Given the Black athletic talent and revenue generated, why do HBCUs struggle for sustainability or resources if not forsaken by the very people it was created to empower. The shameful allegiance to and exploitation by these other institutions of Black talent robs HBCUs.

If you want to protest something, protest that, by choosing who cultivated your future before you knew you had one. That is a practical step toward social justice, education, and economic viability using supply, demand, and exclusivity. It is not racial. It is business. It is not segregation. It is self-determination. It is our new business model for redistributing the wealth earned from our labor and talent. Same for the entertainment and music industries.

If the business model resembles what has been historically used against us, I can assure you that it is coincidental and sanctioned by comparison. Otherwise, they should not practice it. So consider it playing their game, their rules, but to our benefit this time. In addition, a tax-deductible donation would direct resources to HBCUs from taxes you would pay otherwise to the IRS.

There is no need to beg for fairness when you can provide yourself justice. Give your product or service the value you have provided theirs, and it will attract resources and customers, especially if marketed correctly, providing residual value to the patrons in addition to yourself. They pay to see the “commodity,” not the owners.

If you build it, they will come but more importantly, make sure you come because we already have our own thang and the talent to stock it. We are not commodities to be traded on the open market or paraded at a combine for white owners to choose from, like a slave auction to enrich themselves by our labor. Support our thang.

Start at the roots, HBCU. Let’s support Black ownership, wealth creation, and HBCUs with Black talent and resources. Talent is our leverage and venture capital to use wisely. Remember, there is no need to beg. But, there is a need to do. Now, what team are you playing for, the beggars or the doers?

Thurston K. Atlas 

Creating A Buzz  

 

Cultural Differences



Cultural Differences?

We are all culturally designed by the initial foundation of our existence in accordance with our environment. Our parent’s circumstances determine our environment and their environment, which we did not choose and, to an extent, was probably selected by someone else other than them, perhaps their parents. Even if they decided to change their environment or circumstances, they decided, we may have just influenced their decision but were born into it.

Where we are born has just as much influence on us as who we were born to. Yet, this environmental influence has an inverted effect. As we get older, the influence of our environment expands to adjust to changes while the parental influence declines. Of course, parental influence remains strong because it is part of our experience and our experiences shape our perspectives, but still, it decreases in a substantially active manner over time.

The status and cultural vindication among our self-identifying group or the norms of our geographical location is the measurement by which we primarily evaluate ourselves. However, others also probably assess us as a collective standard of that place and time. Thus, we endeavor to assimilate to our environment and subgroup that we aspire to become a part of or have found ourselves to belong.

If we are not choosing, then someone has chosen for us, and often our environment has made the choice. Our subgroup has many different levels, developed preferences, and motivations that constantly change with time. What is permitted, tolerated, encouraged, or prohibited changes regularly which require our constant adaptation? As the circumstances change, we must adjust for the present and future instead of functioning in the past.

Clinging tightly to the cultural pull of tradition or ritual can create an illusion—one of a present constructed of the past without considering the reality of these changes. Thereby stuck in time and ignoring the practical application outside of our subgroup. Remaining comfortably contained within our subgroup normalizes that group but not interactions with those outside that subgroup.

There is never an issue when everyone agrees. Still, any deviation results in some fraction being dissatisfied and exploiting a distinction solely based upon opposition to their preference or choice. Therefore, with those outside our subgroup, cultural and geographical disparities allowing for some degree of other’s dissatisfaction, we expect them to allow for a mutual degree of our discontent.

When in Rome, you do not have to do what the Romans do, but practices that do not infringe upon us are of consequence to only those who practice them. A perspective or tradition imposed upon a different environment other than those in agreement or harming others develops a problem.

Perspectives need to be in step with time as the world has become global, and movement is not confined to our little piece of real estate or experiences. There needs to be respect for others’ differences and geographical influences without abuses of their rights as human beings and residents of the universe. Assimilation is not to become identical to some subgroup or environment at the expense of your culture but to reflect the collective commonality of coexistence.

Assimilation is more of an idea than action because control of what someone self-defines themselves as is strictly subjective. For example, suppose you are categorically opposed to someone for whatever reason. Can you stop that person from feeling the opposite for you if that is what they choose? What about a sport’s fan-favorite team? Can you stop a person from cheering for that team despite your disapproval or knowledge by claiming it as yours?

It becomes an illusion projected outwardly without the detachment to travel outside your perspective. So, it remains within you, having no influence or effect on other’s shared preferences. We are a member of many groups that, without our consent, we do not sanction the membership of. What about a song we like? Can we control who else likes it, or a particular flavor of ice cream whose favorite it also maybe?

We share cross-culturally far more when examined from a humanistic perspective than from a cultural or geographical perspective. Just as people everywhere want the best for their children, why can’t others be allowed to want the same as well. Geography limits our imagination and acceptance because it restricts the definition of our commonality to a location, nationality, religion, or race.

This restriction is reinforced, diluted, and distorted according to who has conquered who at what point in history. What external challenges are to be faced and overcame. During times of crisis, danger, or needed solidarity, any division within or among these subgroups is expanded beyond these allegiances to the maximum mutual demographic affected.

In other words, it grows exponentially from our home to our neighborhood, from our city or state to our country. Then, finally, globally and to every other subgroup such as gender, race, wealth, poverty, religion, and so forth, when faced with a common threat.

When the shoes get tight, and the rubber meets the road, need seems to be the overwhelming unifying factor across all cultural and geographic boundaries. As language can travel without a passport and across all boundaries, commonality of interest travels even further, is more understood, and universally embraced within a common interest or need.

If a global threat from an invading celestial force descended upon earth, then we would all suddenly become earthlings or the human race and not of our identifying subgroup but binding together for the greater good and our mutual survival against a shared threat. The necessity of a universal definition and purpose realigns any subgroups to a consolidated identification and determination.

To assemble under specific affiliations is essentially a matter of comparing preferences to an outside group’s preferences. This, in turn, establishes the group’s criteria and beliefs with various hierarchies within the group as far as deeds, acceptance, and dedication. Thus, there are levels to everything, and their corresponding judgments, prestige, or values.

Validation that confirms your identity within the group deprives you of your individuality because you must submit to that of the group’s external projection in exchange. Reinforcing your desire to belong becomes the goal for your participation. Commitment to defined expectations supersedes adaption to external perspectives. Stubbornness sets in, leading to foolish rigidity and shortsightedness in a vacuum. A tunnel vision of them and us.

Justifying our preferences producing our reality within a larger reality that interacts and encompasses ours does not function outside our smaller reality. Instead, the larger reality functions outside the limitations of our limited acceptance and understanding, creating an impracticality in time, function, and ideology.

Somewhat illogical when you think about how often you indulge contrary to your biases. The denial of a culture you reject often has foods, influences, and products that you accept but not the people or culture that produces it. Cultural differences should be embraced as the variety of life that stimulates life’s experiences.

We only experience portions that could comprise the whole of our experiences when not allowing for things beyond our culture and understanding to expand our completeness. That which threatens your identity is a byproduct of your lack of self-acceptance and dissatisfaction with your circumstances projected upon another group justifying a convenient lie over the uncomfortable truth. The conscious mind convinces and deceives you of what the subconscious mind knows to be painfully true.

A group’s validation of their worthiness based upon perceived deficiencies of others thereby increases their own value by comparison having a better estimation of themselves. The validation of their value within the group becomes their cultural exclusivity, their membership. Preservation of their group culture surpasses their need for change, tolerance, or acceptance to maintain group approval.

Hiding securely within the comfort of association and exclusivity. It is upon you to celebrate your experiences concerning your parents, culture, and traditions that formed your identity as a cultural foundation. Others who do not share the same influences have their own inspiration to observe. These preferences should not be discredited or cheapened by any practices that further insult the dignity of others, celebrate discrimination, or are widely associated with reminders of atrocities.

Different is often a moral assumption and judgment of better, not a reflection that others could view you the same way. It is wrong to celebrate an injustice against someone, whether that injustice is performed by you or someone else. The perpetrator cannot determine the impact upon the afflicted; the afflicted must assess their own grievances and the impact of the injustice.

Celebrate and be proud of your individual spirit since there is only one of you in your uniqueness and embrace accepting your diversity from everyone else who walks the earth. The eyes see outwardly as a projection of you into your environment where there is still only one of you to celebrate and cultivate. Therefore, embrace your uniqueness and accept other’s uniqueness because there is only one of them. In the end, we all share the same uniqueness and commonality; there is only one of us.

The threat to our mutual survival is not of a celestial adversary but one that has been engineered on earth that threatens our children’s future and our co-existence as a species. If you want to exist, then you must allow others to exist, including plants, animals, and humans, all equitably. We are all citizens of the universe, whether we like it or not.

It would be best to make the best of it and bring cultural differences and socially engineered deceptions to examination and adapt from the past to the future. The greatest empires and civilizations the world has ever known have had an exploration date for one reason or the other.

We should at least make our demise something out of our control instead of protecting a global threat or festering our inability to denounce current and past atrocities and exploitations. Everyone must concede at least a little sacrifice; the world has change dimensionally, and so should we. It is not always where you are from but where you must adapt to and make allowances. We are all different but in most ways the same.

Thurston K. Atlas

Creating A Buzz