Official White Privilege Thread







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How Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ Got So Popular – Rolling Stone
The viral phenomenon blew up so fast radio professionals had to rip it from YouTube to play it on the air, and the music industry is still scrambling to decide what, exactly, to call it


Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" went viral with help from the app TikTok.
Courtesy Columbia Records

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/lil-nas-x-old-town-road-810844/

On Sunday night, Justin Bieber hopped on Instagram to announce his latest musical crush to 106 million followers. “This **** bangs,” the star wrote, flashing a picture of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.” Lil Nas X’s genre-defying creation blends banjo strums and jaw-rattling bass, rural imagery and hip-hop signifiers. Hooky, short and wildly loopable, “Old Town Road” took off on the app TikTok, which allows users to create video clips set to music. Now this outrageous hybrid is the latest bizarre viral phenomenon — it debuted on Billboard’s cross-genre Hot 100 chart, the Hot Country Songs chart and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart all at once.

Lil Nas X’s career on the country chart, though, was short-lived. Billboard quietly removed “Old Town Road” from Hot Country Songs and informed Lil Nas X’s label, Columbia Records, that his inclusion on the ranking was a mistake, according to an insider with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.


Billboard did not publicly announce the change, but in a statement released to Rolling Stone, the publication said that “upon further review, it was determined that ‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X does not currently merit inclusion on Billboard‘s country charts. When determining genres, a few factors are examined, but first and foremost is musical composition. While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.” Through a representative, Lil Nas X declined a request to comment on Billboard‘s decision.

Expelling Lil Nas X’s single from Hot Country Songs points to a complicated racial dynamic. The music industry still relies heavily on old-fashioned definitions of genre, which have always mapped on race — Billboard’s R&B chart, for example, was originally titled “race music,” while the Latin songs chart lumps together a myriad of genres and languages under one ethnic umbrella.

In today’s streaming world, however, songs can go viral before labels, radio programmers and playlist curators can sort them into genre buckets. When the music industry enforces genre borders after the fact, it becomes part of a power struggle about who has the right to make what and, in this case, whether black artists can fit in predominantly white genres. “When do we get to the point where [black artists] can be accepted and played on other formats?” the insider says. “That’s still the question.”

Danny Kang, who co-manages another viral country sensation, Mason Ramsey believes that Lil Nas X’s race had nothing to do with country’s decision to symbolically exile “Old Town Road.” “That’s a hip-hop song,” Kang says. After the publication of this story, a representative for Billboard provided a subsequent statement indicating that race did not play a part in the decision to remove “Old Town Road” from the country chart.

None of this made much of a difference to Lil Nas X four months ago. He released “Old Town Road,” which suggests an unreleased Key & Peele spoof of the sub-genre dubbed “hick-hop,” in the first week of December, when the internet was crawling with cowboy memes. “[Lil Nas X] is very internet savvy — he understands how to play with the internet and manipulate it to create viral moments,” Kang says. His team started communicating with Lil Nas X on December 18.

Lil Nas X was shrewd about positioning his banjo hip-pop mash. “On SoundCloud, he listed it as a country record,” Kang says. “On iTunes, he listed it as a country record. He was going to these spaces, gaining a little bit of traction on their country charts, and there’s a way to manipulate the algorithm to push your track to the top. That’s favorable versus trying to go to the rap format to compete with the most popular songs in the world.”

“Old Town Road” also became a smash on TikTok, where truckloads of young users (over 6 million in the United States) create short video clips set to music. The app enjoyed a burst of new interest Stateside just before Lil Nas X released his oddball single. Indify, a company that uses streaming and social media data to identify potential stars early in their careers, saw “Old Town Road” start to gain traction on SoundCloud in late December, according to Connor Lawrence, the platform’s chief marketing officer. “Now, the growth is insane,” Lawrence adds.

“He listed it as a country record. He was going to these spaces, gaining a little bit of traction on their country charts, and there’s a way to manipulate the algorithm to push your track to the top.”

That helps explain why “Old Town Road” flew onto the radio this month. “A couple of our markets put in ‘Old Town Road’ before that was even on a record label,” says Phil Becker, vp of content for Alpha Media, a network of nearly 200 radio stations. “”People were looking for the song file — where can we even get it? One [programmer] was like, ‘I just recorded it off the internet.’ Three of our markets right out of the gate were sharing the same MP3 [ripped] off YouTube.”

That scene would be unimaginable 20 years ago, when radio and labels worked together to make hits. Since artists needed those institutions to become popular, it was easy to dictate certain paths to success — a country hit came from a country label and earned support from country radio. But now the music industry often scrambles to sign and endorse tracks like “Old Town Road,” which have already erupted online. Hits are not initially dependent on industry support, which means that for a brief, giddy moment, some songs exist entirely outside of traditional commercial categorization.

That was certainly the case last week, when “Old Town Road” played on six different radio formats, according to Mediabase. Only one country station played the track — Radio Disney Country — but it was committed, spinning “Old Town Road” 15 times to date. “For those stations that tend to be more traditional country, it might be a little left of center,” says Phil Guerini, vp of music strategy for Disney Channels Worldwide and gm of the Radio Disney Network. “But you see the type of reaction the audience is having to the song. That’s informed by their perception of this song’s country relevance.”

“One [programmer] was like, ‘I just recorded it off the internet.’ Three of our markets right out of the gate were sharing the same MP3 [ripped] off YouTube.”

To the extent that you can corral “Old Town Road” and stuff it into a genre category, contemporary country is probably the best fit. “Old Town Road” certainly incorporates elements of hip-hop production, but at this point, rap’s country infiltration is ancient news, from Jason Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem” to Sam Hunt singles.

But no genre wrestles with its identity as openly as country, which is why country singers are constantly recording songs asserting their own country-ness. “It doesn’t take much to question whether something is really country or not,” says another source at a digital distribution company who works with country artists. “Trap drums [like the ones in ‘Old Town Road’] are one of the things that make people want to say, ‘It’s something else.'”

While “Old Town Road” was briefly labelled a country hit, the distributor did a quick temperature-check in Nashville. “I talked to people at agencies, people at streaming services down there, people at record labels,” he says. “Unanimously, everyone kind of looked at it as a gimmick. They looked at it the same way they looked at the yodel guy.” But the “yodel guy,” Mason Ramsey, is white, and when a viral moment — albeit one without trap drums — took him to the country charts, he was allowed to stay there.

The expulsion of Lil Nas X is not the only recent example of the country music establishment rejecting the work of black artists who did not come up in the Nashville system. In 2016, Beyoncé reportedly tried to submitthe Lemonade track “Daddy Lessons” to the Grammy committee that oversees the awards given to country songs, only to be shot down. (Beyoncé also records for Columbia.)

This problem is not exclusive to country. In the music industry, rock and pop are also still thought of as music by, and for, white people. Much of Juice WRLD’s Death Race for Love is textbook rock and roll, awash in guitars. It will probably be the most commercially successful rock album of 2019. But you won’t find any Juice WRLD on Spotify’s premier rock playlist, which is dominated by white artists. Meanwhile, some pop radio programmers acknowledge that the format is reluctant to play music by black artists.

Lil Nas X’s single is now caught in a very unusual middle ground. “‘Old Town Road’ was broken [in part] using country channels,” Kang says. And the track elicits an enthusiastic reaction based on “country relevance.” But for some, it still doesn’t qualify as country.

Once Columbia signed Lil Nas X, it weighed submitting his single to the streaming services for consideration on their country playlists, according to the insider. But the label ultimately decided against it. “If he wants to be a rapper [later], you can’t put country under his title — he will never be accepted [by hip-hop fans],” the source explains.

Judging from the tepid reception for “Old Town Road” at rap radio last week, some hip-hop power-brokers haven’t embraced Lil Nas X yet either. And now that he has been removed from the country chart, “Old Town Road” is a genuine oddity — listened to everywhere, but not at home anywhere.

“What do we do with artists that blur genre lines when they’re [artists] of color?” the insider wonders. “No one else has that problem.”
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Fake German Heiress With 'Not a Cent to Her Name' Set for NYC Trial in Master Swindling Scheme: Prosecutors
Anna Sorokin "had to fake it until she could make it," her lawyer said in court
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"She's born in Russia and has not a cent to her name as far as we can determine," a prosecutor said at the time of her arrest

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/nat...Sorokin-New-York-Charge-Arrest-507716841.html

Anna Sorokin traveled in celebrity circles and tossed $100 tips - all the more reason to believe she was the German heiress she said she was. But behind the jet-set lifestyle and pricey threads, prosecutors have said, was a fraudster who bilked friends, banks and hotels for a taste of the high life.

Sorokin, 28, lived in luxury New York City hotel rooms she couldn't afford, promised a friend an all-expenses paid trip to Morocco and then stuck her with the $62,000 bill, and peddled bogus bank statements in a quest for a $22 million loan, the Manhattan District Attorney's office has alleged.

On Wednesday, the one-time darling of the Big Apple social scene went on trial on grand larceny and theft of services charges alleging she swindled various people and businesses out of $275,000 in a 10-month odyssey that saw her jetting to the Midwest and Marrakesh before landing in a cell at Rikers Island.

"Her overall scheme has been to claim to be a wealthy German heiress with approximately $60 million in funds being held abroad," prosecutor Catherine McCaw said after Sorokin's October 2017 arrest. "She's born in Russia and has not a cent to her name as far as we can determine."

Sorokin's attorney said she never intended to commit a crime.

Lawyer Todd Spodek told jurors in an opening statement that Sorokin was exploiting a system that was "easily seduced by glamour and glitz" after she saw how the appearance of wealth opened doors. Spodek said she was merely buying time, so she could launch a business and repay her debts.

"Anna had to fake it until she could make it," Spodek said.

Sorokin, jailed since her arrest, faces deportation to Germany regardless of the outcome of the trial because authorities say she overstayed her visa. Her story, however, may stick around. Shonda Rhimes, the force behind "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal," has announced she is creating a television series about Sorokin, whose Instagram bio says: "soon on Netflix."

Sorokin arrived in the world of champagne wishes and caviar dreams in 2016 with a new name (Anna Delvey) and a wardrobe to match (Celine sunglasses, Gucci sandals and high-end buys from Net-a-Porter and Elyse Walker). She made a show of proving she belonged, passing crisp Benjamins to Uber drivers and hotel concierges, but she gave varying accounts for the source of her wealth, according to people who knew her.

At different times, they said, she'd claim her father was a diplomat, an oil baron or a solar panel muckity-muck. In reality, her father told New York magazine, he's a former trucker who runs a heating-and-cooling business.

At first, people around Sorokin didn't see a red flag when she asked them to put cabs and plane fares on their credit cards - she sometimes said she had trouble moving her assets from Europe, they said - and they laughed it off as forgetfulness when they had to hound her to pay them back.

"It was a magic trick," Rachel Williams, the friend from the Morocco trip, wrote in Vanity Fair. "I'm embarrassed to say that I was one of the props, and the audience, too. Anna's was a beautiful dream of New York, like one of those nights that never seems to end. And then the bill arrives."

As she ingratiated herself into the New York party scene, prosecutors said, Sorokin started talking up plans to spend tens of millions of dollars building a private arts club with exhibitions, installations and pop-up shops. She thought about calling it the Anna Delvey Foundation.

Sorokin kept up the heiress ruse as she went looking for a $22 million loan for the club in November 2016, prosecutors said. She claimed the loan would be secured by a letter of credit from UBS in Switzerland and showed statements purporting to substantiate her assets, according to an outline of the charges.

One bank rejected Sorokin because she "did not have sufficient cash flow to make loan payments," prosecutors said. She bailed on another firm when it pressured her for a meeting with a UBS banker who could verify her assets, prosecutors said. At the same time, Spodek said, one of the firm's executives sent Sorokin provocative texts, telling her she was "beautiful inside and out," that he was "forcing myself not to kiss you" and asking to come up to her hotel room.

While seeking the loan, prosecutors said, Sorokin convinced one bank to lend her $100,000 to cover due diligence costs. She ended up keeping $55,000 and "frittered away these funds on personal expenses in about one month's time," prosecutors said. A few months later, in May 2017, Sorokin allegedly chartered a plane to and from the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, but never paid the $35,400 bill.

Broke and facing a big bill at a midtown Manhattan hotel in July 2017, Sorokin pleaded with a police officer that a bailout was on the way, prosecutors said.

"I have no money and no credit cards. I'm waiting for my aunt from Germany. She's going to pay," Sorokin said, according to court documents. "I'm not trying to run. Why are you making a big deal about this? Give me five minutes, and I can get a friend to pay."
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First time visiting this thread. My girl (white) got pulled over speeding earlier today and cop let her go with a warning and her excuse was that she was “excited to see her grandma.” I was happy she didn’t get a ticket but part of me was like damn if I pulled that line there’s a 0.00% chance it would work
 
hand2handking said:
How Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ Got So Popular – Rolling Stone
The viral phenomenon blew up so fast radio professionals had to rip it from YouTube to play it on the air, and the music industry is still scrambling to decide what, exactly, to call it


Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" went viral with help from the app TikTok.
Courtesy Columbia Records

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/lil-nas-x-old-town-road-810844/
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Race permeates all facets of society for us. We just cant escape it. Shout out to bruh. Song and beat is catchy
 
Waco Biker Shooting: Prosecutors Drop All Charges in Deadly Shootout
The shooting outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17, 2015, involved rival biker gangs, the Bandidos and Cossacks



https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...gmAW_3jogandOuUlDUIZiw36NBhFhqmgo2M-tRmjzdCJA

WACO, Texas — No one will be convicted or otherwise held accountable for the 2015 shootout between rival biker gangs in Waco restaurant parking lot that left nine people dead and at least 20 injured, prosecutors in Central Texas said Tuesday.

In a statement announcing all charges will be dropped in the deadliest biker shooting in U.S. history, McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson said any further effort to prosecute the case would be a "waste of time, effort and resources."

"In my opinion, had this action been taken in a timely manner, it would have, and should have, resulted in numerous convictions and prison sentences against many of those who participated in the Twin Peaks brawl," Johnson said. "Over the next three years the prior district attorney failed to take that action, for reasons that I do not know to this day."


A McLennan County deputy stands guard near a group of bikers in the parking lot of a Twin Peaks restaurant Sunday, May 17, 2015, in Waco, Texas.Rod Aydelotte / AP file

The shooting outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17, 2015, involved rival biker gangs, the Bandidos and Cossacks, and occurred as bikers from various groups were gathering to talk over matters of concern. Fights and gunfire broke out. Waco police officers monitoring the gathering also fired on the bikers, killing at least two.

Surveillance footage showed many bikers running from the scene and ducking for cover after gunshots rang out. A smaller number could be seen pointing and firing weapons, slinging a chain or participating in fistfights. Law enforcement officers recovered dozens of firearms, knives and other weapons from the restaurant and adjacent parking lot, many of which officers organized indiscriminately into piles on the pavement and in the back of a police vehicle, dash-cam video showed.

Law enforcement officials took the extraordinary step of arresting 177 bikers after the shooting, then charged 155 of them with engaging in organized criminal activity. Many were held on a $1 million bond.

Former District Attorney Abel Reyna ultimately dropped charges against all but 24 and re-indicted them on riot charges. Those were the cases that came to an end Tuesday.

More than 100 bikers have filed civil rights lawsuits alleging McLennan County, the city and others violated the plaintiffs' civil rights by arresting them without probable cause after the shooting.

"It's a travesty that so many people were rounded up and then investigated, instead of vice versa," Mark Snodgrass, president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said Tuesday. "A lot of these people's lives were put on hold for four years."

In a statement, Reyna said he disagrees "with the overall result as well as several statements and accusations within Mr. Johnson's press release; however, it is solely his decision on how to proceed with any case in the District Attorney's Office."
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Took them 4 years and they're letting them off. :smh:

Need to show that to dude in the Nipsey thread that didn't think white people celebrate/condone biker gangs.
 
4 Women Accused of Running Prostitution Ring in Orange and Riverside Counties, Nevada and Utah
OCR-L-TRAFFICKING-0404-02-mr-1.jpg

https://www.ocregister.com/2019/04/...range-and-riverside-counties-nevada-and-utah/

Four women were arrested this week and charged with pimping after being accused of running an illegal escort service in California, Nevada and Utah and operating it out of Santa Ana and Palm Springs.

Authorities with the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force announced Wednesday, April 3, that the women allegedly operated a prostitution ring and were arrested Wednesday and in custody, including one awaiting extradition from Las Vegas.


The Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force released photos of four women who were arrested and accused of running escort services in Orange County, Riverside County, Nevada and Utah and charged with pimping during a news conference at the Anaheim Police Department in Anaheim on Wednesday, April 3, 2019. The Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force said it was the culmination of a year-long, multi-state investigation involving a high-end escort service. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The four had operated for years, officials said, and eventually brought in tens of thousands of dollars each month.

“No longer are we focusing on the workers who are being exploited whether willingly or under duress,” Anaheim police Chief Jorge Cisneros said during a press conference at his agency’s headquarters. “We will continue to always go after the leadership of these criminal organizations and bring them to justice.”

The three already in Orange County custody were being held in lieu of $1 million bail each: Torri Wilkinson, 37, of Salt Lake City; and Andrea Tizzano, 30, and Aisha Kaluhiokalani, 39, both of Palm Springs.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said the women were charged with four counts each of pimping and pandering. Jodi Hoskins, the woman in custody in Nevada, and Wilkinson, who officials say acted as president and vice president of the escort company, were also charged with conspiracy to commit pimping and pandering.

Anaheim Sgt. Juan Reveles, who runs the multi-agency task force, said the company, Companions Escorts LLC, was set up to appear legitimate but that the approximately 50 women working for it were committing prostitution.

“There were call centers set up in Santa Ana and Palm Springs for the company,” Reveles said, adding that Tizzano and Kaluhiokalani managed and answered phones at those centers.

Companions Escorts had various websites advertising pictures of women for entertainment services.

The arrests were the culmination of a year’s work in the task force’s effort to find underage trafficking victims, Reveles said, although none of those working for Companions Escorts was underage.

Reveles said that no human trafficking charges have risen on this case, because of the lack of force used.

“But I can tell you from investigations, in their emails and the conversations between them … the amount of pressure and duress put upon them (the workers) … puts them in that situation,” he said.

When the women were finally arrested, tens of thousands of dollars in cash were seized and bank accounts containing $300,000 were frozen, Cisneros said.

Reveles added that it is possible the customers will also be targeted in the investigation.

If convicted, Hoskins and Wilkinson face up to 12 years in state prison, while Tizzano and Kaluhiokalani face up to 10.
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John Rich Speaks Out On Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ After Billy Ray Cyrus Hops On Remix: ‘Let The Fans Decide’

rapper-country.jpg

Rapper Lil Nas X, center, enlisted country music crooner Billy Ray Cyrus, right, for a remix of "Old Town Road." The original record had been removed from Billboard's Hot Country charts because it “does not embrace enough elements of today's country music to chart in its current version." (Getty/AP/Getty)

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainme...illy-ray-cyrus-hops-remix-let-the-fans-decide

John Rich is weighing in on the musical controversy surrounding “Old Town Road” and whether or not it deserves to live among country music’s biggest hits.

The country music star stopped by the Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox Nation on Friday and explained that while country music carries a certain feeling, ultimately it is up to the fans to decide if what they’re hearing warrants the genre's stamp of approval.

“Let the fans decide. I mean, country music – I go back to guys like Johnny Cash when he showed up in Nashville, they said that is not country music,” the Big & Rich crooner told Kilmeade. “The guy made his records in Memphis where rock and roll was happening – he’s got his hair slicked back, he’s singing about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Johnny Cash, most hardcore lyrics anybody had ever heard – he’s not country – now Johnny Cash, a pillar of country music.”

When probed on whether or not he felt the smash was country-worthy, Rich noted that his concern is centered on the seriousness of an artist's desire to be a country act, as opposed to the sound of a singular record.

“I don’t like people that try to piggyback on real country music,” said Rich. “So, I think if you really want to be a country artist, then be one – come to Nashville, write your music, really come up with something that’s fitting somewhere around country music.”

The Redneck Riviera Whisky owner continued: “Big & Rich is you know; – a lot of people said we weren’t country because we came out with 'Save A Horse, [Ride A Cowboy],' but I guaran-damn-tee you we’re country. Now they know it.”

Since being delisted from the country charts, Lil Nas X has pulled out all the stops to convince naysayers that his viral hit should be recognized by the industry.

Now, in a plea to the masses, Nas X has enlisted country music star Billy Ray Cyrus to lend his gritty sound to the rap/country crossover that juxtaposes Western and cowboy-themed imagery to a trap-style beat.

“I loved the song the first time I heard it. Country music fans decide what they like. Not critics or anyone else,” Cyrus told Rolling Stone in an interview published on Wednesday. “Waylon Jennings once told me every once in a while the industry outlaws someone because they’re different. Country music fans don’t need to be defined by critics. I’ve always said, don’t think inside the box, don’t think outside the box. Think like there is no box. So, I’m honored to collaborate with Lil Nas X on ‘Old Town Road.’”

However, since debuting at No. 19 on Billboard’s Hot Country chart nearly a month ago, the publication elected to strike the record from the charts, claiming that the catchy tune “does not embrace enough elements of today's country music to chart in its current version."

“Old Town Road” remains on rap/hip hop charts and reached 32 on the all-genre Hot 100 chart. The music video on YouTube features clips from the videogame "Red Dead Redemption 2," and has received more than 15 million views, with 426,000 likes.

Shortly after the song was dropped, the rapper posted a headline of the news on his Instagram page, writing: "extremely disappointed," along with a "sadface" emoji.

The song has since spawned dance videos and received a shout-out on social media from Justin Bieber. Texas Tech's Final Four-bound basketball team even posted a video of the team dancing to the song in the locker room and country singer Jake Owen tweeted at the rapper, saying he wanted to jam with him.
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Privileged
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Kyle Korver
Utah Jazz

Apr 8 2019

W
hen the police break your teammate’s leg, you’d think it would wake you up a little.

When they arrest him on a New York street, throw him in jail for the night, and leave him with a season-ending injury, you’d think it would sink in. You’d think you’d know there was more to the story.

You’d think.

But nope.

I still remember my reaction when I first heard what happened to Thabo. It was 2015, late in the season. Thabo and I were teammates on the Hawks, and we’d flown into New York late after a game in Atlanta. When I woke up the next morning, our team group text was going nuts. Details were still hazy, but guys were saying, Thabo hurt his leg? During an arrest? Wait — he spent the night in jail?! Everyone was pretty upset and confused.

Well, almost everyone. My response was….. different. I’m embarrassed to admit it.

Which is why I want to share it today.

Before I tell the rest of this story, let me just say real quick — Thabo wasn’t some random teammate of mine, or some guy in the league who I knew a little bit. We’d become legitimate friends that year in our downtime. He was my go-to teammate to talk with about stuff beyond the basketball world. Politics, religion, culture, you name it — Thabo brought a perspective that wasn’t typical of an NBA player. And it’s easy to see why: Before we were teammates in Atlanta, the guy had played professional ball in France, Turkey and Italy. He spoke three languages! Thabo’s mother was from Switzerland, and his father was from South Africa. They lived together in South Africa before Thabo was born, then left because of apartheid.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out that Thabo was one of the most interesting people I’d ever been around. We respected each other. We were cool, you know? We had each other’s backs.

Anyway — on the morning I found out that Thabo had been arrested, want to know what my first thought was? About my friend and teammate? My first thought was: What was Thabo doing out at a club on a back-to-back??

Yeah. Not, How’s he doing? Not, What happened during the arrest?? Not, Something seems off with this story. Nothing like that. Before I knew the full story, and before I’d even had the chance to talk to Thabo….. I sort of blamed Thabo.

I thought, Well, if I’d been in Thabo’s shoes, out at a club late at night, the police wouldn’t have arrested me. Not unless I was doing something wrong.

Cringe.

It’s not like it was a conscious thought. It was pure reflex — the first thing to pop into my head.

And I was worried about him, no doubt.

But still. Cringe.

A few months later, a jury found Thabo not guilty on all charges. He settled with the city over the NYPD’s use of force against him. And then the story just sort of….. disappeared. It fell away from the news. Thabo had surgery and went through rehab. Pretty soon, another NBA season began — and we were back on the court again.

Life went on.

But I still couldn’t shake my discomfort.

I mean, I hadn’t been involved in the incident. I hadn’t even been there. So why did I feel like I’d let my friend down?

Why did I feel like I’d let myself down?

A few weeks ago, something happened at a Jazz home game that brought back many of those old questions.

Maybe you saw it: We were playing against the Thunder, and Russell Westbrook and a fan in the crowd exchanged words during the game. I didn’t actually see or hear what happened, and if you were following on TV or on Twitter, maybe you had a similar initial viewing of it. Then, after the game, one of our reporters asked me for my response to what had gone down between Russ and the fan. I told him I hadn’t seen it — and added something like, But you know Russ. He gets into it with the crowd a lot.

Of course, the full story came out later that night. What actually happened was that a fan had said some really ugly things at close range to Russ. Russ had then responded. After the game, he’d said he felt the comments were racially charged.

The incident struck a nerve with our team.

In a closed-door meeting with the president of the Jazz the next day, my teammates shared stories of similar experiences they’d had — of feeling degraded in ways that went beyond acceptable heckling. One teammate talked about how his mom had called him right after the game, concerned for his safety in SLC. One teammate said the night felt like being “in a zoo.” One of the guys in the meeting was Thabo — he’s my teammate in Utah now. I looked over at him, and remembered his night in NYC.

Everyone was upset. I was upset — and embarrassed, too. But there was another emotion in the room that day, one that was harder to put a finger on. It was almost like….. disappointment, mixed with exhaustion. Guys were just sick and tired of it all.

This wasn’t the first time they’d taken part in conversations about race in their NBA careers, and it wasn’t the first time they’d had to address the hateful actions of others. And one big thing that got brought up a lot in the meeting was how incidents like this — they weren’t only about the people directly involved. This wasn’t only about Russ and some heckler. It was about more than that.

It was about what it means just to exist right now — as a person of color in a mostly white space.

It was about racism in America.

Before the meeting ended, I joined the team’s demand for a swift response and a promise from the Jazz organization that it would address the concerns we had. I think my teammates and I all felt it was a step in the right direction.

But I don’t think anyone felt satisfied.

There’s an elephant in the room that I’ve been thinking about a lot over these last few weeks. It’s the fact that, demographically, if we’re being honest: I have more in common with the fans in the crowd at your average NBA game than I have with the players on the court.

And after the events in Salt Lake City last month, and as we’ve been discussing them since, I’ve really started to recognize the role those demographics play in my privilege. It’s like — I may be Thabo’s friend, or Ekpe’s teammate, or Russ’s colleague; I may work with those guys. And I absolutely 100% stand with them.

But I look like the other guy.

And whether I like it or not? I’m beginning to understand how that means something.

What I’m realizing is, no matter how passionately I commit to being an ally, and no matter how unwavering my support is for NBA and WNBA players of color….. I’m still in this conversation from the privileged perspective of opting in to it. Which of course means that on the flip side, I could just as easily opt out of it. Every day, I’m given that choice — I’m granted that privilege — based on the color of my skin.

In other words, I can say every right thing in the world: I can voice my solidarity with Russ after what happened in Utah. I can evolve my position on what happened to Thabo in New York. I can be that weird dude in Get Out bragging about how he’d have voted for Obama a third term. I can condemn every racist heckler I’ve ever known.

But I can also fade into the crowd, and my face can blend in with the faces of those hecklers, any time I want.

I realize that now. And maybe in years past, just realizing something would’ve felt like progress. But it’s NOT years past — it’s today. And I know I have to do better. So I’m trying to push myself further.

I’m trying to ask myself what I should actually do.

How can I — as a white man, part of this systemic problem — become part of the solution when it comes to racism in my workplace? In my community? In this country?

These are the questions that I’ve been asking myself lately.

And I don’t think I have all the answers yet — but here are the ones that are starting to ring the most true:

I have to continue to educate myself on the history of racism in America.

I have to listen. I’ll say it again, because it’s that important. I have to listen.

I have to support leaders who see racial justice as fundamental — as something that’s at the heart of nearly every major issue in our country today. And I have to support policies that do the same.

I have to do my best to recognize when to get out of the way — in order to amplify the voices of marginalized groups that so often get lost.

But maybe more than anything?

I know that, as a white man, I have to hold my fellow white men accountable.

We all have to hold each other accountable.

And we all have to be accountable — period. Not just for our own actions, but also for the ways that our inaction can create a “safe” space for toxic behavior.

And I think the standard that we have to hold ourselves to, in this crucial moment….. it’s higher than it’s ever been. We have to be active. We have to be actively supporting the causes of those who’ve been marginalized — precisely because they’ve been marginalized.

Two concepts that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately are guilt and responsibility.

When it comes to racism in America, I think that guilt and responsibility tend to be seen as more or less the same thing. But I’m beginning to understand how there’s a real difference.

As white people, are we guilty for the sins of our forefathers? No, I don’t think so.

But are we responsible for them? Yes, I believe we are.

And I guess I’ve come to realize that when we talk about solutions to systemic racism — police reform, workplace diversity, affirmative action, better access to healthcare, even reparations? It’s not about guilt. It’s not about pointing fingers, or passing blame.

It’s about responsibility. It’s about understanding that when we’ve said the word “equality,” for generations, what we’ve really meant is equality for a certain group of people. It’s about understanding that when we’ve said the word “inequality,” for generations, what we’ve really meant is slavery, and its aftermath — which is still being felt to this day. It’s about understanding on a fundamental level that black people and white people, they still have it different in America. And that those differences come from an ugly history….. not some random divide.

And it’s about understanding that Black Lives Matter, and movements like it, matter, because — well, let’s face it: I probably would’ve been safe on the street that one night in New York. And Thabo wasn’t. And I was safe on the court that one night in Utah. And Russell wasn’t.

But as disgraceful as it is that we have to deal with racist hecklers in NBA arenas in 2019? The truth is, you could argue that that kind of racism is “easier” to deal with.

Because at least in those cases, the racism is loud and clear. There’s no ambiguity — not in the act itself, and thankfully not in the response: we throw the guy out of the building, and then we ban him for life.

But in many ways the more dangerous form of racism isn’t that loud and stupid kind. It isn’t the kind that announces itself when it walks into the arena. It’s the quiet and subtle kind. The kind that almost hides itself in plain view. It’s the person who does and says all the “right” things in public: They’re perfectly friendly when they meet a person of color. They’re very polite. But in private? Well….. they sort of wish that everyone would stop making everything “about race” all the time.

It’s the kind of racism that can seem almost invisible — which is one of the main reasons why it’s allowed to persist.

And so, again, banning a guy like Russ’s heckler? To me, that’s the “easy” part. But if we’re really going to make a difference as a league, as a community, and as a country on this issue….. it’s like I said — I just think we need to push ourselves another step further.

First, by identifying that less visible, less obvious behavior as what it is: racism.

And then second, by denouncing that racism — actively, and at every level.

That’s the bare minimum of where we have to get to, I think, if we’re going to consider the NBA — or any workplace — as anything close to part of the solution in 2019.

I’ll wrap this up in a minute — but first I have one last thought.

The NBA is over 75% players of color.

Seventy-five percent.

People of color, they built this league. They’ve grown this league. People of color have made this league into what it is today. And I guess I just wanted to say that if you can’t find it in your heart to support them — now? And I mean actively support them?

If the best that you can do for their cause is to passively “tolerate” it? If that’s the standard we’re going to hold ourselves to — to blend in, and opt out?

Well, that’s not good enough. It’s not even close.

I know I’m in a strange position, as one of the more recognized white players in the NBA. It’s a position that comes with a lot of….. interesting undertones. And it’s a position that makes me a symbol for a lot of things, for a lot of people — often people who don’t know anything about me. Usually, I just ignore them. But this doesn’t feel like a “usually” moment.

This feels like a moment to draw a line in the sand.

I believe that what’s happening to people of color in this country — right now, in 2019 — is wrong.

The fact that black Americans are more than five times as likely to be incarcerated as white Americans is wrong. The fact that black Americans are more than twice as likely to live in poverty as white Americans is wrong. The fact that black unemployment rates nationally are double that of overall unemployment rates is wrong. The fact that black imprisonment rates for drug charges are almost six times higher nationally than white imprisonment rates for drug charges is wrong. The fact that black Americans own approximately one-tenth of the wealth that white Americans own is wrong.

The fact that inequality is built so deeply into so many of our most trusted institutions is wrong.

And I believe it’s the responsibility of anyone on the privileged end of those inequalities to help make things right.

So if you don’t want to know anything about me, outside of basketball, then listen — I get it. But if you do want to know something? Know I believe that.

Know that about me.

If you’re wearing my jersey at a game? Know that about me. If you’re planning to buy my jersey for someone else…… know that about me. If you’re following me on social media….. know that about me. If you’re coming to Jazz games and rooting for me….. know that about me.

And if you’re claiming my name, or likeness, for your own cause, in any way….. know that about me. Know that I believe this matters.

Thanks for reading.

Time for me to shut up and listen.

593da32d-k-korver-sigb.png

Kyle Korver
Utah Jazz
 


When asked to define country, T.J. Osborne quickly chimed in, "Certainly not that."

"I don't know what country is, it's not for me to say," T.J. continued. "The only thing to me I just think is, you know for me if music, it makes you feel good, then that's really the whole point of it. However, I don't like that there's this controversy around it. Particularly, once again, John and I, we've had successful radio [singles] but we still struggle at radio all the time. And so to complain about that to me is just like, dude, come on, get in line."

"And then this dude decides to put out a song with kind of quasi-country lyrics... Let's turn the focus away from that," John said of Lil Nas X. "Don't create controversy and expect that to give you a hall pass. We need great songs. Go listen to Kris Kristofferson and then go listen to that song, and if you tell me they have anything to do with each other, then I will quit."
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Shaw’s Metro PCS Store Has Been Forced To Turn Off Its Go-Go Music, Owner Says



https://dcist.com/story/19/04/08/sh...fR8LEInP4Vf9YCRGKx130gSa3mS8tzpaG6qRC7dFDksyI

The Metro PCS store in Shaw has been playing go-go music since 1995. Now, the owner says T-Mobile is telling them to turn it off.

For 24 years, Donald Campbell has been playing go-go music from his Metro PCS storefront in Shaw, at the corner of 7th Street and Florida NW. Until now.

Campbell says that T-Mobile, which acquired Metro PCS, reached out to him about a month ago: “They said, ‘get rid of the music.’ It came from up top that we had to get rid of it,” he says.

According to Campbell, T-Mobile told him that a nearby resident threatened the company with a lawsuit over the sounds that have blared from the speakers since 1995. He says that he had to turn off the music two weeks ago, and since then, “Every day all day, people think we’re closed. People have been complaining, asking what’s going on.”

He’s still been playing the music inside the store, but “the vibe is totally different,” he says. (Some peoplehave said they’ve heard the go-go more recently than that, which Campbell attributes to the speakers inside. “If you walk by you can hear it a little bit,” he says.)

“Generations of Howard students, generations of people know that I play music every single day,” says Campbell. The shop houses smaller businesses that offer repairs, and sells phones and go-go CDs. “We started selling tapes, now we’re selling CDs,” he says. As a former club owner, he says, “I always liked the go-go bands, I always tried to keep the music alive.”

The identity of Campbell’s store, incorporated under the name “Central Communications,” is so closely intertwined with the music known to play out front that three of the four Yelp reviews mention it, and one is solely about the go-go. “I cannot speak on the phone services. I try not to drop my phone,” says one reviewer. “My two visits were to buy music that I’ve heard playing … For $10.00 you can get a nice Cd to play for a weekend trip, a cookout or to kick it old school with family and friends.”

Campbell is speaking with T-Mobile higher-ups again on Monday evening, he says, and hopes to reach a resolution that will allow him to turn up his speakers again. T-Mobile did not respond to DCist’s request for comment.

According to Campbell, the complaint came from a resident in The Shay, a nearby luxury mixed-use development. “We can’t confirm or deny that,” says the person who answered the phone at The Shay’s office, and declined to provide their name. “There have been complaints about the music being extremely loud, but it’s not just The Shay. It’s people who live all over or are visiting the area. It’s not The Shay that has the issue.”

But the question of the go-go music from the store hasn’t come up in the area’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission. According to Robb Hudson, an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in 1B, which includes Metro PCS, “in my five years on the ANC, we have never once discussed the music from the Metro PCS store … I’ve never had a conversation about it. And it has never once been mentioned, in my recollection, at any of the open meetings the ANC has had (that I’ve attended),” he tells DCist via Twitter direct message.

Community activists including Ron Moten are organizing on behalf of Campbell and his right to play music. “The community has been pressing him to say what’s going on, but he’s been reluctant [to share] because this is his livelihood,” says Moten. “He wants to save his culture but this is his livelihood.” Moten characterizes the fight over noise as “an ongoing thing that’s been going on for decades.” The D.C. Council is working on a bill this session to limit music played through amplified devices in the city.

Since one tweet called out the lack of music at Metro PCS on Saturday, people have been using the hashtag #DontMuteDC to talk about the situation. The hashtag is currently trending locally.

“If you choose to live in the U street area, and complain about the gogo, you are an awful, entitled dork who shouldn’t be given any voice or power,” wrote one user. Another tweeter reminded folksthat “it’s not JUST a Metro PCS, but one of the last dedicated gogo shops in The District. Go in and buy a few PA CD-Rs (5 for $25!) to show yr support until the music comes back on.”

And Derek Brown, business owner of the Drink Company pop-up space on the same block, wrote that“Shutting down the Go-Go music piping out of Metro PCS on Georgia Ave. makes Shaw a less lively and vibrant place. Especially as they put up plaques commemorating the music on the block. Turn it back on and turn it up.”

Campbell says he has been harassed before, especially in the last five years, by police officers telling him to turn his music down, but “nobody has ever written up anything on me ever.”

Long a tight-knit, predominantly black community, Shaw has changed at such a dizzying pace over the past decade and a half that the neighborhood is often used as a symbol of gentrification across the District. Shaw saw its black population plummet from 78 percent in 1990 to 44 percent in 2010 (that’s from the most recent Census data, but the numbers have almost certainly continued to drop in the ensuing years). Meanwhile, property values have jumped—pushing out many longtime residents, while developers co-opt Shaw and U Street’s history in the names of luxury condo buildings.

While some longtime businesses thrived, others have struggled as their regular customers leave the area. “Our base has left the area,” John Goodwin, the owner of Torrie’s, a diner just up the block from Central Communications, told DCist recently.

An employee at the cell phone store echoed that sentiment when talking to the Washington Informer in 2016 about how gentrification has affected the business.

“They have moved out or gotten pushed out. It’s a domino effect. Over 50 percent of the businesses that used to be here are gone. It’s different, way different,” Gregory Mcneill told the Informer. “Once upon a time we stayed packed, and now it’s a trickle … I give it a year, maybe more in my opinion that this will be here.”

Go-go itself has also been pushed out of the very neighborhoods where it was born. Howard University professor Natalie Hopkinson chronicled the genre’s rise and slipping grip in its hometown in her book Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City.

“Without go-go,” she wrote in a 2010 Washington Post story. “Washington loses part of its soul and continues its steady march toward becoming richer, whiter—less funktified.”

In 2016, Grammy-nominated artist Kokayi collected sounds from residents throughout the city to create an anthem for the Funk Parade. When telling DCist what kinds of clips he sought to help preserve an aural slice of the District, he mentioned the Shaw Metro PCS store’s playing of go-go: “I hear that, and I know exactly where I am.”
Click to expand...
 
^ Yep, this has been the talk of the city (again) for a few days man.

Come into the city and change the fabric.
 
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