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Overview
I am not an academic, a scholar, or a historian. I do not know my true name, my home country, or my culture. I do not know my tribe or my family beyond a few. It's these, and many other factors, that contribute to my vertigo... my instability.
I contend that a Black man in America over the age of 40 is inherently unstable, at 50, at risk, and at 60... let's just say I think a lot about death. More accurately, what I think about is the irony of living out my final days without knowing who I am. Who am I as a function of my people, my heritage, my homeland, city, town, or village? I can't trace back any further than my mother and father, both of whom were born and raised in Brooklyn. Brooklyn? That's it? That's as far back as I can go! Hell, that's enough to make anyone unstable!
Stable means secure, however, unstable is insecure, or unsafe. It's also volatile or mercurial-- that's me! "Essays & Opinions" is a collection of writings dating back to my first published piece in 2003 when I wrote about the tragedy of the shuttle Columbia. Cheryl Smith of the Dallas Weekly printed it, giving me the confidence to keep writing. It includes various op-eds from Black Men Magazine, the Florida Star, and assorted sources on my hard drive. The passing of time has made the reading doubly interesting for me.
I find that I'm all over the place from piece to piece, but the underlying takeaway for me is that I am a quintessential Brooklyn kid. I'm from the same town as Eddie Murphy, Biggie Smalls, Barry Manilow, Barbara Streisand, and Mike Tyson. Strange place! I embody the same creative drive as some and the frustration and malcontent as others whom I listed above. Thus, the instability!
I attempt to share as much as possible and expose as much as possible, in hopes that I might save someone a few thousand in therapy, or legal fees. Much of what I have to say is typical for an adult Black man... some of it may throw you a bit, and of course, there are some outright surprises.
I wanted to set some records straight to pass on to my grandsons. For example, there is no such thing as Black people, White people, Yellow or Red people-- it's all nonsense. There are groups, peoples, and civilizations with distinct yet intersecting histories and cultures-- none better or worse than the other.
'Why?' Why is the world so deeply invested in this evil racial blueprint or construct? Supremacy is the simple answer. The problem with race is that by design and by definition, races have winners and losers, and in a human context, someone must lose. Supremacy, existing in two parts, superiority and inferiority, as a function of race, requires that to maintain or sustain the illusion of superiority, or more simply put, to win, I may have to keep my foot in one of two places, your butt or on your neck. Supremacy is inherently physically or mentally violent.
I want to teach my grandsons to observe people and individuals. I want them to study history, cultures, and civilizations and to learn from it all, from everyone. Then treat people as they deserve to be treated-- individually. If they're cool, fine, if not, don't even deal with them.
As an aside, the only reason Prosperity Ministries are so popular is because so many people are oppressed, repressed, and depressed. If your life was good, why would you need Jakes, Dollar, White, or O'steen telling you how to pray for increase? Why do you need Robbins, Brown, or Dyer to motivate you? It's all a game!
If you survived this introduction, you should be okay reading the remainder of Vertigo. Hold on!
I contend that a Black man in America over the age of 40 is inherently unstable, at 50, at risk, and at 60... let's just say I think a lot about death. More accurately, what I think about is the irony of living out my final days without knowing who I am. Who am I as a function of my people, my heritage, my homeland, city, town, or village? I can't trace back any further than my mother and father, both of whom were born and raised in Brooklyn. Brooklyn? That's it? That's as far back as I can go! Hell, that's enough to make anyone unstable!
Stable means secure, however, unstable is insecure, or unsafe. It's also volatile or mercurial-- that's me! "Essays & Opinions" is a collection of writings dating back to my first published piece in 2003 when I wrote about the tragedy of the shuttle Columbia. Cheryl Smith of the Dallas Weekly printed it, giving me the confidence to keep writing. It includes various op-eds from Black Men Magazine, the Florida Star, and assorted sources on my hard drive. The passing of time has made the reading doubly interesting for me.
I find that I'm all over the place from piece to piece, but the underlying takeaway for me is that I am a quintessential Brooklyn kid. I'm from the same town as Eddie Murphy, Biggie Smalls, Barry Manilow, Barbara Streisand, and Mike Tyson. Strange place! I embody the same creative drive as some and the frustration and malcontent as others whom I listed above. Thus, the instability!
I attempt to share as much as possible and expose as much as possible, in hopes that I might save someone a few thousand in therapy, or legal fees. Much of what I have to say is typical for an adult Black man... some of it may throw you a bit, and of course, there are some outright surprises.
I wanted to set some records straight to pass on to my grandsons. For example, there is no such thing as Black people, White people, Yellow or Red people-- it's all nonsense. There are groups, peoples, and civilizations with distinct yet intersecting histories and cultures-- none better or worse than the other.
'Why?' Why is the world so deeply invested in this evil racial blueprint or construct? Supremacy is the simple answer. The problem with race is that by design and by definition, races have winners and losers, and in a human context, someone must lose. Supremacy, existing in two parts, superiority and inferiority, as a function of race, requires that to maintain or sustain the illusion of superiority, or more simply put, to win, I may have to keep my foot in one of two places, your butt or on your neck. Supremacy is inherently physically or mentally violent.
I want to teach my grandsons to observe people and individuals. I want them to study history, cultures, and civilizations and to learn from it all, from everyone. Then treat people as they deserve to be treated-- individually. If they're cool, fine, if not, don't even deal with them.
As an aside, the only reason Prosperity Ministries are so popular is because so many people are oppressed, repressed, and depressed. If your life was good, why would you need Jakes, Dollar, White, or O'steen telling you how to pray for increase? Why do you need Robbins, Brown, or Dyer to motivate you? It's all a game!
If you survived this introduction, you should be okay reading the remainder of Vertigo. Hold on!
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940185913734 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Miles Davis |
| Publication date: | 04/15/2024 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
Miles Jaye, born, Miles Jaye Davis, was born in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Brooklyn. Jaye, best known for his professional music career studied Classical violin and Jazz theory as a young man. Jaye is the namesake of Jazz legend, Miles Davis., protege' of R&B great, Teddy Pendergrass, and former lead singing "Cop" of the iconic pop group, the Village People.
In "VERTIGO, Essays & Opinions of an Unstable Black Man", Miles Jaye reveals the inner workings of the mind of a man, the whole man-- a Black man, an African American, a Negro, a person of color and all that is meant, intended, and implied by those identifiers. Also, revealed are thoughts and feeling of a father, a veteran, an artist, a citizen, in whole or part, of the United States of America and a man in search of the face of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit in mankind.
In "VERTIGO, Essays & Opinions of an Unstable Black Man", Miles Jaye reveals the inner workings of the mind of a man, the whole man-- a Black man, an African American, a Negro, a person of color and all that is meant, intended, and implied by those identifiers. Also, revealed are thoughts and feeling of a father, a veteran, an artist, a citizen, in whole or part, of the United States of America and a man in search of the face of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit in mankind.
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