How many times must I feel like my remote is the “Action” a Director shouts to start a movie, narrated by sensationalizing some aspect of the Gangster lifestyle?  Henry Hill’s story made a classic GoodFellas movie; Al Capone’s story made a classic movie with The Untouchables, as well as a great inspiration of Tony Montana’s story in the classic movie Scarface (1983); I will even go so far as to say that Frank Lucas’ story made a great American Gangster movie, but at what point do we step away from what the media has sensationalized and glammed up for us in order to see what’s going on behind the scenes? 

Written by Nicole Camack bka K-Mack

American Gangster – what does is really mean to be one?  What are the qualifications?  Is it what the media defines for us as:  the power, respect, influence, and money (not wealth) gained by the temporarily untouchable street intellect and vision of some mastermind of illegal activities? Or Webster’s definition:  a member of a gang of criminals?  Or could it be defined as:  concentrated intelligence who transcended their time and place, were revolutionary in a more positive than negative light and whether questionable, debatable, or relatable, their contributions are not forgotten.  A real “American Gangster” is someone who took some system that America so graciously laid out for us and rebelled against it, twisted it to make it work for them and their cause, all while defeating the many odds against them and prevailing in the end.  Why is it that the media (pick a medium of choice) tries to make us be as infatuated with the Gangster lifestyle as they seem to be?  The sensationalism or perception of a felonious lifestyle has perpetuated the definition of the word or phrase.  However, sometimes to find truth you must break things down and start with the basics.  To put this all another way, my alphabet may help concoct a better portrayal of those Americans that deserve the sensationalizing and their notable swags:

A – Muhammad Ali:  TKO’d competition
B – John Brown:   used fierce insurrection to help abolish slavery
C – Carter G. Woodson: liable for Black History month and awareness
D – W.E.B. DuBois: injected relentless education on African-American plights as “The Father of Pan-Africanism”
E – Emmett Till:  his murder catalyzed the Civil Rights movement, fearlessly reported on by Medgar Evers (which instigated his own KKK assassination)
F – Timothy Thomas Fortune: built the foundation that the Niagara Movement and the NAACP would later be built upon; the force behind distribution of awareness of unnecessary evils
G – William Lloyd Garrison:  radically fought his war with words in The Liberator
H – Fannie Lou Hamer:   rocked the voting rights throughout the Civil Rights Movement
I –  Ida B. Wells:   (in lieu of Jena, et al) she was the single most powerful leader for anti-lynching in America
J – Jackie Robinson:  knocked the racial ball out the ballpark
K – Martin Luther King Jr.: avalanched the Civil Rights Movement, non-violently
L – Louisiana:   relentlessly rebuilding against lack of efforts and support
M – Michael Moore:  fearlessly produces in-your-face documentaries on things that those he’s reporting on would rather leave unexposed
N – Huey P. Newton:  one of the prodigies behind the Black Panther party
O –  Jesse Owens:   won Olympic medals in front of Adolf Hitler, demonstrating that Nazis were not superior
P – Philip Emeagwali:  proved through his persistence (amidst a blanket of misbelieve) that computers could be linked together through a network (Father of the Internet)
Q – Quincy Jones:  took the music industry by storm and put the ‘Thriller’ in Michael Jackson’s career
R – John D. Rockefeller:  straight monopolized the Gas/Oil Industry, funded the founding of Spelman College in a time where supporting black females (and in education) was unheard of
S – Margaret Sanger:  single-handedly helped to legalize birth control against governmental opposition
T – Nat Turner:   spawned one of the most powerful revolts against the institute of slavery
U – Underground Railroad: an organized, thorough and effective revolution against a governmental mandate (Harriet Tubman)
V – Vanessa Williams: broke color barriers in the pageant industry; amidst controversy, resigned the duties, but kept the crown, title and rewards, and went on to be the most successful Miss America 
W – Noah Webster: gave the words we use original meaning (Father of American Scholarship and Education)
X – Malcolm X:  fought for racial equality by any means necessary
Y – Whitney Moore Young:  had no reservations in fighting employment discrimination, pushing for federal aid to cities, and helping organize the March on Washington
Z – Zora Neale Hurston:  adamantly opposed integration (in the Harlem Renaissance era) so as not to dilute her people
**Trust that this is in no way my comprehensive list

So the moral of the story is:

Before we can progress as a society, a Hip-Hop nation, or whatever may have you, we have to take back the remote control from the media, regain access to the power to define ourselves, and broadcast HD-clear instead of coming through full of static and uncertainty through a sensationalized characterization.  If someone chooses a certain lifestyle, benefit, and consequence, that is their decision - to each his own.  We should keep the end and not the ends or the in-between in mind.  Of course the lifestyle that many dream of (sprinkled with fame, fortune, and power that comes to those who choose to build an illegal empire) is nice to live and watch, but how does it all end?

The World is Yours-
Don’t let someone else tell you how to work for it, make it work for you.

Footnote:
The Media: noun: largely those who report and broadcast to the masses, but also anyone who distorts or spins actualizations for their own benefit; an American gangster of facts.

Written By Nicole Camack bka K-Mack
KMACKsMyName@gmail.com