5 Ways To Keep Luke Cage Relevant

5 Ways To Keep 
Luke Cage Relevant

The new hit show Luke Cage literally broke Netflix last week and some are wondering if it's a fluke or will it remain relevant.

As a youth advocate and preschool teacher from Generation X, I was born between 1961-1979, there are many things I learn from and teach our Millennials [Generation Y], Generation Z and Generation Alpha I primarily interact with everyday. Born between the years 1980-1995, 1996-2010 and 2011-2025, these are the generations who represent the Ambassadors of our future and what they know and understand will be the infrastructure and decorum of that future. It's important to mention this because we often overlook the fact that they will one day be in charge of social security, senior citizen housing and any legislation that will directly effect us as their elders. It's not only important to consider what they think but be involved in their growth and development.

Anyway, prior to this Marvel Television web series release I've kept up with the comic book narrative of Luke Cage with hopes of seeing "Power Man" on the big screen. The day came, the internet went batshit crazy and review after review heralded this superhuman Harlemite with unbreakable skin as the crime fighting [Black] God the Five Percenters have identified themselves as since 1964. Among its detractors were some white folks crying about the Harlem backdrop not being a gentrified North Manhattan and Wendy Williams posted a picture of Mike Colter [Luke Cage] with his white wife during an interview to discredit his Marvel Universe archetype, in real life. While people have been debating the social impact and relevance of this web series, many have failed to ask our Millennials and Generation Z what they think. I have been. I've also been checking out their commentary and reviews of Luke Cage and what I've found is they generally don't care or know enough of the social/cultural context to actually appreciate it. To many of them it's more of a novelty, not a statement of sociopolitical consciousness. For example, unless children born between 1980 and 2010 have Generation X or Baby Boomer parents and grandparents schooling them about the past, they'll have no idea what "70s Blaxploitation" is -which Luke Cage has been touted as. Of course there are exceptions, but even the best of Millennials and Generation Z who claim Hip Hop have no clue where episode names like "Who's Gonna Take The Weight?", "Manifest" or "DWYCK" came from. In mass, those who seem to appreciate this web series the most are my generation, Generation X, and some of the Baby Boomers.

The beauty in this is I've found myself challenged to introduce our youth to a deeper perspective and appreciation for where they are and what they have in Luke Cage, especially in a time where we are seeing un-human black men with breakable skin being murdered by police every day. From this introspection and experience I came up with 5 ways we can help build upon this narrative so our youth can get the most out of this web series and what's happening around it. These are 5 things I encourage you to consider if you're invested in doing the same:

1.) Watch the web series, encourage our youth to watch it and watch it with them if you can. Invest in the web series when it's available and keep it in your digital library. 

2.) Have open discussions that include Luke Cage within the Marvel Universe conversation alongside other super heroes/sheroes. Contrast and compare his ability to others. This morning in my preschool class I began teaching one of my 4 year old boys about Luke Cage, AKA "Power Man", by showing him who he was on my computer. When comparing him to Superman he said he needs a cape to which I simply responded, "He doesn't even need one, he looks and dresses just like you."

3.) Research social/cultural themes that are expressed or implied within the web series. For example, every episode is named after a Gang Starr song and this is an excellent opportunity to share their contribution to Hip Hop.

4.) Support positive products/services that reinforce these themes within the web series.

5.) If you celebrate Halloween, encourage the youth to dress like one of the web series characters and/or dress like one of these characters yourself along with them. How cool would it be as a Father to be Luke Cage? If you celebrate Christmas, support products, especially from black owned businesses, that reinforce the themes within the web series.

The ultimate goal here is to own, control and build upon this narrative. In regards to identity, it's important to orientate ourselves with language, symbols and archetypes of empowerment, especially in a society that promotes white nationalism, supremacy and iconography. It's also important to seek out and support black comic book writers, graphic designers and etc. Unlike our past generations, today our Millennials [Generation Y], Generation Z and Generation Alpha have the benefit of knowing and identifying with a Storm, Black Panther, The Falcon, Deadshot and now Luke Cage. We must take advantage of these opportunities. More importantly, we must create our own. Lastly, we need more positive images in real life, real men and women of power who are fighting crime and setting a righteous standard so that our families don't have to live in fear. This doesn't require us to gain superpowers in a sabotaged cellular regeneration experiment. It requires care and commitment to our people.

Peace,
Saladin

Are We Eating Our Young?

Cronus devouring one of his children

Are We Eating Our Young?

People often don't realize how much of an impact the economy really has on us psychologically and socially. If you let the tell-lie-vision tell it we're not in an Economic Recession right now and everything is good on main street in America. How? Because measuring economic decline is accompanied by a visible stock market drop, a decline in the housing market and increase in unemployment. Those factors, along with a decline in the gross domestic product (GDP) for a couple of consecutive quarters, are the standards of measurement used by the dominant mainstream society. Those standards can fool a person into believing that everything is alright. Where many of us live around the world, whenever we've been in proximity to global white supremacy and institutionalized racism/sexism, our communities have been in more than a Recession, it's an Economic Suppression. Historically speaking and with very few exceptions, whenever main street America has a cold, the back streets and country roads will have the bird flu. Today I'm not going to just talk about the economy's impact on us, I'm going to talk about how our psychology and sociology, via mythology, shapes the economy. I'm also going to talk about the vital role of fathers in leading our families and communities.


The image above of Cronus is Greek and the Greeks are considered the hallmark and standard of so-called Western Civilization. When you study their mythos, two of the most common themes you'll find is a preoccupation with time [Chronophobia] and Infanticide [life and death]. Cronus was the son of Uranus, no pun intended. Uranus had sex with his wife Gaia [Earth] every night but hated the children she bore him; the Titans. So what did Uranus do? He imprisoned them in a place called Tartarus which is equivalent to Hell. This caused Gaia great pain so she did what any scorned woman would do: she shaped a great flint-bladed sickle and asked her children to cut Uranus' penis off. The only one brave enough to do it was their youngest child, Cronus, so when he caught his Father out there he castrated him. The blood that spilled from Uranus onto Gaia gave birth to the Hekatonkheires [the three 100 handed giants], the one-eyed giants called the Cyclopes, Erinyes [female punisher deities], Meliae [tree 'nymphs'; where nymphomaniac is derived] and the deity Aphrodite was born from Uranus' severed balls [testicles] that Cronus threw in the sea. After all of this Cronus re-imprisoned his brothers the Hekatonkheires and Cyclopes in Tartarus, and he too faced the same fate of being overthrown by his future son Zeus. Because Cronus was aware of this self-fulfilled prophesy he tried to defy fate by eating his own children.  The above image is of Cronus eating one of his children. Eventually his wife Rhea tricked him by wrapping a stone in a blanket and hiding their child Zeus who was raised away from his Father Cronus and grew up to one day over take him. When Zeus came of age he first caused his Father to throw up his siblings whom he ate. Then Zeus freed his uncles the Hekatonkheires and Cyclopes from Tartarus and they along with his siblings defeated Cronus in the battle know as the Titanomachy. Oh yeah, to thank Zeus for releasing them his uncles the Cyclopes gave him thunder and lightening.

This is just a small glimpse of the dysfunction found throughout Greek Mythology; the psychological and sociological backdrop to Roman Mythology, a segment of Europe and the good ole U.S. of A. I focused on the Father-Son relationships of Uranus, Cronus and Zeus because it highlights some the trans-generational daddy issues we see prevalent throughout American society. Uranus didn't want to yield to Chronus and Chronus didn't want to yield to Zeus.  Living in a society where we often see this resentment that the old heads sometimes carry for the young bucks, and the young bucks likewise carry for old heads, has created a generational gap that mirrors the same conditions that perpetuated the dysfunction throughout Greek Mythology. When the Baby Boomers and Generation X are not preparing a place of leadership for the Millennials, our families, communities and society suffers. When the Millennials are not seeking guidance from the Baby Boomers and Generation X, our families, communities and society suffers too. It's a lose-lose situation and this has become an issue on main street, the back streets and the country roads in America.

When there's an Economic Recession and Economic Suppression, this further compounds these issues. When this is not taken into consideration sometimes people believe the old suppress the young; older people stay in positions stopping the children from having opportunities because they're jealous, haters or simply set in their ways. That's not always the case where there's an Economic Recession and Economic Suppression going on. Sometimes it's just good old fashioned fear. Fear of not having enough money to live on or to pay for medical bills that come with waning health/vitality. Fear of social security, pensions, 401K and etc. drying up or being taken away. This whole idea of a vanishing middle class and an expanding American landscape of haves and havenots is real. Many of the people you see working every day who are over 65 are not doing it as a hobby or for pocket money; they're supplementing a fixed income. Consider this the next time you hear people say career politicians, doorstop pastors and Adamantium labor/trade unions are just hating on the youth. Yes, some absolutely are and don't care about what happens to our youth or the future of this society. Some are just striving to hold on to a financial lifeline Congress is slowly cutting away. On the flip size, all of our youth aren't just rebels without a cause, unruly or anti-elders. Many of them are dissatisfied with the present conditions and want to change things yet may not know what to do or where to even start. They're in an Economic Recession and Economic Suppression too. Many of the people you see not working every day who are young are not doing it because they're lazy or would rather beg for pocket money; they don't know how, where, when or what to do to supplement their family's fixed income.

There's a terrible disparity between fathers and suns in our communities that must be reconciled. Some fathers simply don't desire to have a relationship with their suns. Like Uranus, he may have enjoyed the sex with a female [Gaia] every night but hate the sun(s) she bore him.  Sometimes there are females standing between a father and sun who are not striving to or even qualified to help them reconcile that relationship. Like Gaia, she may have experienced great pain from her relationship with the father and eventually created an environment for their sun(s) to cut him off [castrate him]. These Grecian narratives have become a common psychology and social backdrop within our communities that continues to erode our family units and local living economies. If fathers aren't passing on the insight, guidance and skillsets to their suns it arrests their child's development and limits their ability to make a living for themselves and contribute to this society. As a youth advocate there have been many young males I've mentored who were in this position. I've done and continue to do my part by providing them with the resources to successfully make that transition into manhood. As this Greek Mythology of Chronophobia and Infanticide was passed on through its generations it requires a paradigm shift on our part to redefine our family units and communities. This requires more than research on alternatives, it requires application. In the most simplistic terms we as men need to father our suns. If we don't have a sun we need to be father figures. How? By being a link to their future by nurturing, respecting, loving, protecting and educating them. The women who our suns were born through, or who are mother figures, must help reconcile that father-sun relationship and not stand in the way.

Peace,
Saladin