A Dream Worth Sharing On MLK Day

This lil' Beige dream of mine...

I’ve been quiet on the 'Stack these last couple of weeks as I’ve had my head down working on a video for a person who happens to be the cousin of Coretta Scott King, the wife of Martin Luther King Jr.

Ironically, I’ve been so immersed in this compelling project (which comes with a deadline!), that I forgot what day it was today. Realizing it was an auspiciously coincidental holiday made me decide to poke my head out of my video bubble and write this piece.

It’s always fulfilling when creative paid work aligns with one’s own values and I’m looking forward to sharing the video very soon. In the meantime, here’s a tiny extract from Seneca’s excellent narration, which springboarded today’s Sane communiqué:

Here¹, neighbors are working to continue the populist vision of my cousin, Coretta Scott King, the wife of Martin Luther King. It’s a vision that has been soiled by the divisive identity politics pushed by the elite progressive activist class who are currently destroying our social fabric.

If you are Sane, or Sane-adjacent, or even just sane (I’ll definitely take that too!), then you already know why I emphasized certain words above. Personally speaking, aka from my own lived experience (chortle²), I don’t for a minute believe that most people in America today are racist.³ However, for the last decade I’ve witnessed that we are actively encouraged to believe that it is the case, especially in places like the Bay Area⁴ where, ironically, I would say there is relatively little racism, compared to the rest of the country, or other countries. (I’ve lived in a few countries, so you’ll have to take my word for it .)

You guys, it’s just not cool to be racist here, and despite the heavy-handed virtue-signaling with BLM signs posted all over the shop — literally, in white-owned establishments that want to protect themselves from being perceived as racist if they don’t carry the sign — of course that’s a good thing.

But we drown here in identity politics propaganda: such messages are strategically placed in the windows of stores, restaurants, bars and homes, slathered all over public transport and magnified on billboards. It’s the reason for excruciating 3-day DEI trainings at your place of work, assuming you’re lucky enough to still have a job. It’s all so cleverly designed to cause division, sow seeds of discontent and feel anger towards any person who happens to have a differing amount of melanin to yourself. I will confess (and I’m going to write about this whack period of my life in more detail one of these days), I almost fell for the All White People Are Racist multi-year advertising campaign myself for a month or so back there (it might have been around 2—3BC⁵) but I quickly jumped out of that negative victim-mindset hole, realizing there was something decidedly off with the rhetoric of most of the highly-privileged “people of colour”⁶ around me — many of them extremely well-off — claiming to be oppressed by so-called racist white people (or wypipo, a term I often heard in “POC” circles, ugh). There was a good reason why I, personally, couldn’t stay in that hole — what really helped me see right through the nonsensical claims — was that, my whole life, some of my best friends have been every shade of Beige. And by “some”, I mean all.

(And isn’t that the case for all, or most, of you?)

Click the image below if you don’t get what I mean.

United Nations of Beige? (Yikes, but I know about the UN now…)

Later in 2020 whilst I witnessed (mouth agape for almost 4 years since then), one of the most unbelievable scams ever to be perpetrated on the trusting-slash-lazy human mind, I came across the term psyop, which gave me a framework to understand why identity politics⁷, had suddenly become a big thing.

[By the way, for those who aren’t aware of this term — psyop(s) — it’s a truncation of the words, psychological operation(s)⁸, and I like Reinette Senum’s definition in this piece where she warns of potential shenanigans in 2024: the power of media distortion and the manipulation of public perception.]

Hands up! Who else is done with divisive identity politics?

Therefore on MLK Day, let's remember some of the words of Mr King’s speech that don’t often get airtime (frankly, I’m surprised NPR hasn’t memory-holed this segment):

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

Mr King, sir, you had an excellent dream, and that was a fantastic speech, all of it. If you were alive today, I think you might like my song with these lyrics:

So tell me does your colour gauge
Contain all my shades of Beige
In innocence of heart I find
Stevie's rainbow, colour-blind

Bringing all the threads together

And now tying up MLK Day, my inherent love for all peoples Beige, and the scamdemic into a cute little bow, here we have one of the sanest of the Sane, Judea Johnson, break it all down for you in a 16 minute interview. Where is the lie in anything she said back in 2021?

Which leads me to a request for your support

I have a few dreams too and one of them is to get paid to create more Shades of Beige videos. Currently I have unedited footage, shot in the last year, for two more episodes sitting on my hard drive. And of course I also have my eye on interviewing more good people right here in the Belly of the Beast, all those who choose to stand on the right side of history, who fight valiantly and intelligently everyday. I would love to amplify the many sane voices around us in a consistent, rather than sporadic, series. Thus, if you are able to, please become a paid subscriber.

Or, if you are already a paid subscriber, you can offer a gift subscription to a friend or family member.

I find time to work on this Substack in between paid freelance gigs. More paid subscribers will give me more opportunities to make videos like the one above and others like this and this.

We need more sanity in this world, I hope you will agree!

Other reasons to become a paid subscriber

If you’re part of the Sane community already, becoming a paid subscriber is a way to say thank you. In the last 3.5 years, you’ve seen me working tirelessly to meet our community’s needs by organizing weekly meet-ups, social gatherings, protests, live arts and music events, job and housing bulletin boards, promoting your gigs, workshops, businesses, and much more.

If you’re learning about Sane Francisco from outside of the Bay Area, becoming a paid subscriber is a way to support sanity in the craziest of places. Local action makes a national impact. Help us strengthen our community and push back against the tides of Bee Ess overpowering our fair city.

Thank you to all my subscribers (free or paid) and like Martin — and me — never stop dreaming!

1. Here being Neighbors Together Oakland, the org he founded to organize and mobilize neighbors to build a safe, livable city.

2. Some phrases have become so hackneyed now, it’s hard to say them without irony.

3. Please note, I’m not saying that racism does not exist in the US, or anywhere in the world.

4. Which I like to call the Beige Area.

5. 2—3 years Before Covid.

6. More on that term later, too.

7. Which went so far that it even caused some non-white people to demand segregation (amongst other Back-to-the-Future type bizarreness); I need to add a link here, and it will be there when you come back later…

8. Oh, and by the way, Wikipedia is controlled opposition, in case you didn’t know.