Professor On 'Is The New American Pope Black?'
Some important things happened yesterday in Vatican City. The cardinal electors selected Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago-born cardinal to be the next leader of the Catholic Church. This means that for the first time an American will be the pope. But there is a reason why Black folks, Catholic or not, should care about this: The new pope is Black.
Let me tell you about the pope's peoples. His maternal grandparents are described as Black or mulatto in historical records. They lived in New Orleans' Seventh Ward, an area known for being a place where people with African, Caribbean and European roots intermixed. The grandparents, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, moved to Chicago in the early 20th century and had a daughter: Mildred Martinez, the pope's mother. So, what does that mean?
OK. Let me get deep for a second.
When America was a young country, slave owners instituted the 'one-drop rule.' It was a historical and sociological principle of racial classification that said any person with a single ancestor of African descent ('one drop' of 'black blood') was considered Black, regardless of their overall ancestry or physical appearance.
That's why light skinned Black folks felt the need to pass. They knew that if their true ancestry was discovered, they would be ostracized and treated like a second-class citizen—even if their skin was white as snow and their hair bowed in the wind. (It's part of the whole plot of Imitation of Life, a movie beloved by Black grandmothers everywhere.)
This rule was forced upon us, so Black folks adopted it. Now, no matter what you look like, if you have a Black ancestor, you are invited to the cookout.
The pope is not just Black. He is a black person from Chicago who can trace his roots to New Orleans. That man is not only invited to the cookout, but we may also have make him actually cook.
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The sound was dense and murky (Sly was among the first musicians to use drum machines), the mood reflective ('Family Affair'), fearful ('Runnin' Away') and despairing: 'Time, they say, is the answer — but I don't believe it,' Sly sings on 'Time.' The fast, funky pace of the original 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)' was slowed, stretched and retitled 'Thank You For Talkin' to Me, Africa.' The running time of the title track was 0:00. 'It is Muzak with its finger on the trigger,' critic Greil Marcus called the album. 'Riot' highlighted an extraordinary run of blunt, hard-hitting records by Black artists, from the Stevie Wonder single 'Superstition' to Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' album, to which 'Riot' was an unofficial response. But Stone seemed to back away from the nightmare he had related. 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He would allege he had hundreds of unreleased songs and did collaborate on occasion with Clinton, who would recall how Stone 'could just be sitting there doing nothing and then open his eyes and shock you with a lyric so brilliant that it was obvious no one had ever thought of it before.' Sly Stone had three children, including a daughter with Cynthia Robinson, and was married once — briefly and very publicly. In 1974, he and actor Kathy Silva wed on stage at Madison Square Garden, an event that inspired an 11,000-word story in The New Yorker. Sly and Silva soon divorced. He was born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, and raised in Vallejo, California, the second of five children in a close, religious family. Sylvester became 'Sly' by accident, when a teacher mistakenly spelled his name 'Slyvester.' He loved performing so much that his mother alleged he would cry if the congregation in church didn't respond when he sang before it. He was so gifted and ambitious that by age 4 he had sung on stage at a Sam Cooke show and by age 11 had mastered several instruments and recorded a gospel song with his siblings. He was so committed to the races working together that in his teens and early 20s he was playing in local bands that included Black and white members and was becoming known around the Bay Area as a deejay equally willing to play the Beatles and rhythm and blues acts. Through his radio connections, he produced some of the top San Francisco bands, including the Great Society, Grace Slick's group before she joined the Jefferson Airplane. Along with an early mentor and champion, San Francisco deejay Tom 'Big Daddy' Donahue, he worked on rhythm and blues hits (Bobby Freeman's 'C'mon and Swim') and the Beau Brummels' Beatle-esque 'Laugh, Laugh.' Meanwhile, he was putting together his own group, recruiting family members and local musicians and settling on the name Sly and the Family Stone. 'A Whole New Thing' came out in 1967, soon followed by the single 'Dance to the Music,' in which each member was granted a moment of introduction as the song rightly proclaimed a 'brand new beat.' In December 1968, the group appeared on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' and performed a medley that included 'Dance to the Music' and 'Everyday People.' Before the set began, Sly turned to the audience and recited a brief passage from his song 'Are You Ready': 'Don't hate the Black, don't hate the white, if you get bitten, just hate the bite.'
