“Three/Fifths”

11/2018 36” X 48”. Oil on Canvas

Often the version of history we receive comes from the winning side in most wars and conflict. There is a saying, “The winner is always on the right side of history”. Mostly, because the winner is often the author. Unfortunately, African-Americans aren’t often the authors of their own stories which leads the characterization of black people up to their oppressors. If Dr. King was correct about people truly being judged on the quality of their character, how should I feel as a black man about how I am characterized in mainstream America? With a 24-hour cycle mainstream music and television machine promoting maladaptive behaviors like active drug use, gun violence, promiscuity and dropping out of school all as “cool” things to do on the urban inner-city airwaves, how can a young impressionable mind differentiate between real-life and entertainment? If one cannot read, write or spell how can they participate in the creation of history books? “The industry owned and ran by white people, uses young naïve financially desperate black kids to perpetuate negative black stereotypes that in turn hold back and further destroy the black community. Black kids are being used as weapons of mass destruction against their own people”. Positive images of Black men even in black programming are rare. Conscious music projects are shelved by companies and never see the light of day. Independent music and film producers who make attempts to change the narrative are often sued or entangled in legal proceedings that bankrupt them insuring the status quo. In an attempt to illuminate the institutional conditioning of American citizens with regard to “who” African-Americans are. This series aims to challenge viewers to reconsider their own beliefs about who African-Americans are by exposing institutionally oppressive themes used in the American enculturation process.

Illiteracy rates are rising in the black community. Black children are more likely to know who Lebron James and The Megan Thee Stallion are than who James Baldwin or W.E.B Dubois were. I believe there is a deliberate, malicious attempt to perpetuate the miseducation of generations (of black men specifically) in our community because “others” benefit directly from it. In black communities across the country becoming a professional athlete or getting a record deal are what young black boys aspire towards because these are the images of ourselves that we are exposed to the most and one does not need to be extremely educated to achieve these dreams. I hypothesize that maybe if African-American children saw the black businessmen, doctors, lawyers, writers, politicians and other professionals more on mainstream outlets with greater frequency we would have greater aspirations as a people.