[eDebate] So Tired Of This

[Jeron Anthony Jackson]

ede, louisville, and the community--

i?m not gonna go by the line by line.

i don?t need to prove my method or purpose to ede anymore. i actively try
to increase underprivileged participation in debate. my team is not
predominately white and i?m deeply proud of that. our team host a debate
tournament open to all members of the cornell community (1894) where they
talk about the topic. the judges are teachers and grad students. i
actively go to ithaca middle school and the other surrounding schools and
help them with the debate programs they have. i go back to detroit and
help schools like renaissance with their debate program.

ede, we both want to see more blacks in debate. we don?t need to argue
about that. but let?s discuss how we do that. if you don?t think what I?M
doing is cool, let?s discuss that. sometimes i think the way your project
tries to achieve that goal isn?t cool
i?ve already discussed that in my
previous post, which seems to have been ignored/dismissed in one sentence
by you.

i don?t think competition is wrong. i do think that getting the ballot can
lead to change. but I don?t understand what non-competitive forum looks
like
please explain. and where is the proof that your project will get us
there? what will the ballot mean in a non-competitive forum? how do other
teams create non-competitive forums?

i think in-round is a decent place to engage your argument. however, i?m
never gonna debate you in round ede. i?ll never get to talk to YOU in a
debate round. i also don?t think i can say everything i wanna say in 9 or
6 minutes. i can?t truly discuss things with you when i have to answer all
the other stuff you present. if i ever hit louisville, we should just sit
down and talk about how we feel and what we can do to increase
participation in debate. We need to change these time limits ede.

when can we start to talk about real policies? when i can talk about how
tnws are oppressive to me and my indigenous and european brothers and
sisters? when can I talk about how the president of u.s. might sign a bill
that could cause a nuclear war, heterosexism, or environmental
destruction?

i think your answer will be, when there is meaningful black participation
in debate. that?s my answer too. and should be fine with the rest of the
community. but maybe when i hit you, we can actually talk about that
stuff.

this community really does need to WAKE UP! if all ede is asking is for
you to increase meaningful minority participation in debate, why don?t
you? why aren?t you sending more black debaters to CEDA, kentucky, and
northwestern? why aren?t we all working with UDLs and encouraging more
minorities and womyn to stay in debate and do well? if you just do things
then you won?t have to spend your time arguing with ede on edebate; you
can join ede and help him reach his goal. we can go BEYOND ede?s goal and
have more womyn, latinos, lgbtq?s, poor, etc., individuals participate in
debate. And we don?t have to accept ede?s way of doing it. i don?t! think
of something that works for you. Share experiences with other debaters and
debate coaches. work your asses off to increase diversity so we don?t have
to worry about white supremacy in debate anymore. stop limiting yourselves
to traditional forms of debate. expand, try reading some poems, playing
some songs, sharing your own personal experiences, speaking slower. we
should be willing to open ourselves up. i don?t want to hear louisville?s
same argument anymore, not because  i don?t think it?s important, but
because i don?t want it to be important anymore. we must all work to
create a ?beloved community?.

stop picking on people ede. All you continue to say is ?you haven?t done
enough? but you?re not telling us HOW we can do more. have you talked to
josh or me and tried to listen to what we have done? have you tried to
offer us help? no, you haven?t. and some of us haven?t tried very hard to
help you. but i have tried. i?ve offered kritikism and i?ve also tried to
increase underprivileged participation; i know i can do more and i want
you to support me on that. refusing to answer me is not an act of
solidarity. YOU NEED TO CHANGE and WE NEED TO CHANGE. stop thinking about
it as ?you change first and then i?ll THINK about changing.? we need to
change TOGETHER! i think josh has really tried to increase minority
participation in debate, but just because he failed doesn?t mean you
should write him off and refuse to engage him. you should work with him
and educate him by engaging.

i?ve thought i had to some really good alternative methods to improve your
project. focus on more than black, focus on class, sex(uality), gender,
etc. i have done that, and now i need to work harder on changing some
forms of traditional debate, but so does louisville.

could you please tell the community what specifically is exclusionary
about ?traditional?/policy debate. most people don?t know what the problem
is, and thus can?t being to fix it.

i would love to have conferences about race and i would one day LOVE to be
published in a journal. but a journal is not a very interactive forum were
people can EXCHANGE ideas. and not everyone can (afford to) go to a
conference; we have a hard enough time going to debate tournaments. so i
think your alternative forums for discussion are not good enough. edebate
is a pretty good place for the ENTIRE community to communicate and learn.
almost all of the debaters have internet access and we can answer each
other?s questions, kritik each other, love each other, 24/7. conferences
end, journal articles end, debate rounds end. edebate is never ending
(unless kerpen goes to jail). the internet transcends (most) borders. who
cares about getting promoted? why can?t you send your 130+ students a link
to edebate? why can?t we all ban together and share resources? i don?t
understand how debating in round, having a conference, and writing for a
journal will get you all of those things either. and even if they do, it?s
not the only/best way to do so. and STOP THINKING ONLY ABOUT EDE! THINK
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY TOO! it shouldn?t be an us v. them, it should be a
UNIVERSAL US. again, cross-apply the ?beyond black? essay by bell hooks. 
i respect your freedom to respond to whatever you want on edebate, i can?t
argue with that, but let?s work together to find the BEST way to
communicate with the rest of the community; your way might not be it!

i think your purpose is wonderful, but the way you do it has some faults.
we should feel free to kritik that, but that doesn?t mean we should reject
the purpose. i really do want you to trust me, and if you don?t trust me
then please tell me how i can get you to.

as far as music goes, i don?t think people should have to sing their own
songs. i do think people should be kritiked on the songs they play and the
arguments they make. i think we should kritik debaters who read racist
caldwell evidence and we should kritik debaters who play hetero(sexist)
rappers. if you want to make an argument that a sexist rapper has made,
write YOUR OWN lyrics for it, don?t use theirs. or actively kritik your
rap racist as you play her. a lot of things jay-z says are on point. but
that doesn?t mean you excuse his hetero(sexism). the same goes for
?professional-intellectual? authors.

so let?s put an end to the louisville project by putting an end to our
anti-project,
jeron