THE UGLY AMERICAN; A RESPONSE

Well Mike, let me tell me from the standpoint of an African American; it's only getting uglier. No one has done their homework on Barack Obama and his doings, and this is going to sink our country. I understand only too well why my folks want to vote for this man, having been mashed down by the history of slavery and racism in this country, which continues. I also understand the very deep and racist reasons whites are supporting this man and planning to vote for him; I call it benign racism, but it's definitely scarier than the more open form practiced by the repugs. The benign racism of all nonwhite Americans says that blacks in this country have gotten all they are going to get, and if we elect a black man this will be the end of our obligations the them, and to the black problem in general. Obama is not of this country, nor did he experience many of the things of those of us who were. Whites do not look at him and see me, someone who might be angry for some of things my people have suffered in this great and wonderful country of ours. They think he is the embodiment of all that blacks should have achieved and to place this man in a higher office will show all us blacks what we can achieve if we simply try harder. Forget all that post slavery racism which was practiced against us. Forget that our true freedom only arrived a mere forty years ago, and yet we have still been halted from achieving the same goals as whites in this country, or even foreign born people arriving here with nothing in their pockets and yet skyrocketing past us. Whites still refuse to believe that racism exist in this country, and at least not to the extent that it once did. I can tell you from my own experiences that this is a lie. Racism is alive and well in this country, and it's practiced by every spectrum of people, from the conservative to the so called progressives who now want to simply ignore the "problem" until they go away. There is enough tragedy here for all of us, whether Obama wins or loses. If he loses it will be proved that blacks aren't good for anything. If he wins the mediocrity of his presidency will also doom us. Either way, it's a lose/lose situation for all of us after eight years of Bush, and having divided the party the way he did it will never be whole again. The sad thing is that I used to believe that blacks and whites needed each other to make this country the great nation that it could be, but that will never happen now. For us as African Americans a new direction is needed and it will have to be found without the help of whites in this country who no longer want to be helpful, but are finally ready to be rid of their "black problem".

Mike Ferrel's post HuffingtonPost.

I WOULDN'T TAKE NOTHIN' FOR MY VOTE NOW, OR...

On November 4, 2008, the good lord willing and the creek don't rise, history is going to be made and many of us will go to the polls to vote for the first African American in this country. I no longer have the mixed feelings that I once did for the simple fact that I have made my decision on what to do and am at peace with it. In the beginning I was quite angry with the way things went during the primaries and at the convention, but I've gotten over that. Besides, what good would it do me to hang onto those feelings?

I must say that I never thought I would live to see such a thing in my life time even though during the year that eighteen year olds gained the vote Shirley Chisholm ran. The Rev. Jesse Jackson has run, and during the last election cycle a whole slew of African Americans ran, and then came Barack Obama. Within fifteen seconds of hearing him I made up my mind and I haven't changed it yet. He has proven to be all that I thought he would be, but this isn't going to be a discussion of those feelings. Rather, it's going to be about what I had hoped would be accomplished but hasn't been, and probably won't be.

One of the things I always remember that voting is as much a privilege as well as a right, as well as remembering that since this country was formed and right up through the civil rights movement, people died to protect my right to do so. I also think of people who are unable to vote but might need the services my candidate says they are going to provide for all the people. With the rise of Obama I had thought that finally, here was someone who might put the consideration of reparations for the descendants of slaves on the table. The way he has people eating out of his hand I just knew that he could usher in a better era for African Americans, especially after Katrina, and hadn't we the right to ask for anything?

Reparations. Just the mere mention of the word seems to send some people into a tizzy, almost makes them lose their minds. With Obama's rise we are at a crossroad as far as reparations are concerned, and I already know how he feels about this; something to the effect of not throwing money at people. Strange, considering his background with money, but I'll let that go here. Here's the problem; if you're African American you know the deal with race relations in this country. You know that they're far from all that they could be, very far. But you might also have noticed that white America no longer wants to deal with black America and feels we should have gotten over all that had been done to us by now and should no longer need a handout. I've seen that story and the one of the lazy Negroes sitting on the stoop in one white blog, so it isn't hard to think that much of white America feels this way. But there is one dark problem to not wanting African Americans to have reparations. How will whites feel if Obama is not elected, or worse yet, if his presidency is less than stellar?

I will say that when most people even think of reparations they wonder could such a debt be repaid, which is mildly nice. That really isn't the question because it can never be repaid. The real problem for me is not why blacks are supporting Obama, that's easy enough. The question is, why are whites? Racism. It's as plain and simple as that, and yet they claim that those of us who don't vote for him are the ones who are racist. Of course, as a black person I am not racist. An aunt Thomasina? Hardly. Not wanting to give my support to one who I think isn't qualified to be president isn't being a turncoat against my own race. I think I'm trying to support my race against someone who I don't think has their best interests at heart, if at all. It's as simple as this;

first and foremost, whites are tired of the "black problem". they're tired of supporting us, carrying us, as it were, and they are ready to be rid of us, and what better way than to elect a black man? particularly, this black man. Barack Obama has it all, they think. He is bi-racial, first of all, born of a black man and white woman. He was not born on this continent, nor was he here during one of the most crucial times in our history, the civil rights movement, so that means that he is not an angry black man. His coloring and appearance are just right, nothing threatening there. His background, schooling and post secondary education are just right. He did all the things whites think most blacks should be doing, in spite of the fact that they have poor educations and affirmative action has been practically stamped out for us.

most whites think that with the election of Barack Obama their obligations and guilt over anything they might owe blacks is done with. They no longer wish to feel they owe us anything, and in fact figure that their obligation to us was done with the civil rights act and the death of Dr. King. They want us to stop whining and crying and begging for welfare(the majority of which is received by whites), and most of them don't see anything to our complaints of racism. Once Obama becomes president their obligations to us are essentially over. They will no longer feel the need to extend a helping hand to blacks, thus sinking us further into a hole. I call it the desire for benign racism, although I've already come to the conclusion that this is practiced by most whites today anyway, yes, even liberal whites, actually, them most of all.

I wish I felt differently about Obama but I don't. I don't believe that he is competent enough to be running this country or dealing with foreign politics. At this time I'm having some other thoughts and I'm not even sure he really cares what the people of this country think or want. If Obama really cared then not only would he have had a definite agenda and set policies, he would have taken this time to address the needs of "our" people, once and for all. Just think, a black man is in the driver's seat and we are still without power. Blacks, who are giving this man their votes, have asked nothing for them, have not asked what Obama's plans for the black community as a whole are, how he plans to use his leadership role to help his fellow Americans, as well as the white community, which I'm sure he will serve well. Hope, change, and audacity don't equal education, health care, jobs, decent housing. Just ask the people of Katrina, three years later. That is what our votes are worth, that's why we ask candidates can they pay for our votes, and it's why we look at their records, ask questions, try to listen to all the bs they will try to sell you, trying to discern who should earn the biggest payday of all, your golden vote. I hope everyone gets what they think they are about to pay for, I really do.

Now, I'm going to tell you the truth about how I really feel about Barack Obama. I think this man is going to do greater harm to the African American community than was ever done by any racist in this country. First, he managed to do with precision skill, what he needed to do, and that was convince blacks that the Clintons were the devil incarnate. He played the race card with all the skill he could muster, and as the race continued so he continued to play his race card hand, and both blacks and whites bought into it. No questions asked. The price that we are about to pay for this action is going to be incredibly high, make no mistake about it. If Obama is elected everyone will be satisfied for the moment. If his presidency is as mediocre as I think it will be, even less so, then the back lash on blacks will be enormous. If he is not elected, then we will wind up with four more years of republican rule, something none of us wants. Blacks will sink even further into economic dire straights and neglect because whites are tired of our black asses. Race relations hinge on this election, something no one acknowledges, but believe me, it's there. Read some of the major white blogs out there such as Huffington Post, No Quarter, The Confluence, and quite a few others, and you will catch the tone of how whites feel about this man. Are they racist? That's a kind of shady thing, lol. That is another blog post.

Once Obama had separated black folks from his hated enemy, it was easy. Putting up fingers at women, calling them bitches through the music of the great women haters of hip hop, and beating black people like a drum. All the while promising whites that not only will blacks not become a problem, but that reparations are off the table and possibly dead forever. Think. $12, 000,000,000 lost on a pallet in Iraq. Who's white hands did that money land in? Bush's? Cheney's? Wolfowitz's? $12, 000,000,000 of the people's money lost on a pallet and yet Katrina is still undone? Do you think that Obama could have gone to New Orleans and helped the people in the aftermath of Katrina? Jena? You do know that the CBC(Congressional black caucus) supported Clinton in the beginning don't you? What happened to them? Obama put the knife to them! He found out all their dirty little secrets and then threatened to expose them if they didn't support him. Just ask Charley Wrangell, who's little tax secrets were exposed until he started squealing like a stuck pig for Obama.

There are so many more reasons not to vote for this man, but each individual must make his or his own decision. This is an historic event for all black Americans, especially those of us who are older and never thought to see this day in our lifetimes. I know it can't be passed by for some of us because who knows when we may get the chance again, so I can understand why most of my brothers and sisters are going to cast their votes for him. But I, for one, will not. In all good conscience, I cannot give my vote to this man who I don't think has our best interests at heart. I wish I could feel differently about him, but the truth is that this man scares me, along with his puppet masters, the Chicago machine who is working behind him. This year, I will not be voting for any presidential candidate.

I could have put many links to this thing, but I think it's important that everyone do their own research before voting for the candidate of their choice, so do your homework!

A FREAKING POODLE, LOL!

O MY FREAKING GOD!

Finally, some fun! Barack Insane Obama is going to hold sway in an erected mini Greek temple! No lie, saw it on the internets, oooh oh, on the internets. This is the man who is going to be our next dictator in chief? What a hoot, what a riot this is going to be. I can't wait to see the field day the rnc is going to have with this mess.

I did find somewhere else that it's supposed to be a replica of the buildings in D.C., but I don't believe it, and even if I did, I wouldn't believe it. That freak was not in this country during the King speech, and as for being any where near the caliber of King - not! What will they call him after tomorrow, prekinggod?

I SEE PHALLIC SYMBOLS!

NYT columnist Bob Herbert is seeing phallic symbols! Mr. Herbert claimed on msnbc's Morning Joe that an ad, done by the McCain campaign showed phallic symbols in the background, the Washington Monument, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Victory Column, which was behind him as he spoke. These images, along with Britteny and Paris were used in the McCain ad which said that Obama was himself one of the biggest celebs going, right up there along with those two. He claims that at the very beginning of the ad there are phallic symbols, but I can't see them. I have run the thing several times, and while I do see a flash of white, I don't see the phallic symbols. Bob Herbert is seeing things. Being a woman I thought I should be able to see these things, but I didn't. Nothing, nada, zip, zilch. No giant phalluses. Bob Herbert was creeping me out. I mean, this man, a columnist for the NYT was sitting there, with this crazy look on his face going off about seeing these phalluses, and trying to get everyone else to see them too. What was up with that? I mean, I understand the man has drunk a cup of the purple pee, but dang, did he have to embarras himself by going on crazedly about those phalluses he thought he saw? Does he know that now everyone thinks he's crazy? Off his noodle? Out of his mind? I know I do, and I once half way admired the man. If you didn't know he was in the tank for Obama before you do now. Take a look at that video and tell me you don 't think that man is crazy!

HEY LUDA, LOL!

Hey Luda
Are you the new duda
who just got thrown
under the wheels
of the bus known as
Obama express?!
And are you now
incredulous that
the wheels of that
yellow bus are now
treadin' on yo back
with a crack, crack, crack?
Now you're Ludicrous!

MY LETTER TO DEF JAM RECORDS

As an African American woman, I am sick and tired of black men calling black women bitches, whores and sluts, and then expecting us to respect them. I have no respect, and I don't appreciate it. This hatred of black women in the lyrics of music for no discernible reason other than earning a dime has got to stop. It is ruining our relationship with black men, our image in society, and the mental health of all of us, including our girls. Think about it. Knowing that you, the owners of the entertainment industry are white, causes me to think of how very racist and hateful you are to promote these kinds of lyrics against women with whom you have not only no relationship, but no knowledge. If the black men who's music you promote thought about it long enough they would know that you care nothing for them either. They would realize just how much you hate them, and probably despise them for writing and singing such lyrics. Do they really believe that you care about them? I've heard it said that you tell you them that if they don't write those types of lyrics against black women that they will soon be gone because those plain lyrics won't sell. The great and wonderful (not) David Banner said as much before a congressional panel. I don't know where or when this fascination with calling black women bitches and other sordid names in song began, but I know it has to stop. Now that ridiculous Ludacris has now called a white woman a bitch, how long do you think it will be before they're calling your wives and daughters bitches? How long after that before your sons begin calling your daughters bitches? Their mothers? We all know that the word bitch is all too often used as an angry, violent epithet, often followed by physical violence. The use of this word against women has got to be stopped and you are the only ones who can do it. You can promote lyrics with positive images. You can let your buyers know that such language cannot be tolerated any longer, and that you will be promoting lyrics with a more positive message, or even better story telling, which is what a song is about. If you can't tell a story without calling names or being hateful, then where is your artistry? Where is your own self respect? Why are men portrayed as great and wonderful human beings while calling women dogs, subhumans? How do you even look at the women in your lives knowing that not only are you a deep racist, but you hate the women of another race and use their men against them? Don't you think it's time you stopped your own racial hatred and the madness?

HEY BITCHES, LOL!

So, it's finally happened. After years of fighting brothers calling sister bitches, along with a whole host of other names, a rapper finally crossed over and called white women bitches and the shyt might hit the fan now, lmfbao. Ludacris has writen some lyrics calling Hillary Clinton an irrelevant bitch, which the precious has now condemmed. Now, he knew these lyrics were being writen all along, but as usual he let them go out, then condemmed, once the cat was out of the bag. Once again this man's wonderful judgment is showing. Is Mechelle a bitch? His daughters? His grandmother? Well, she might be as he has already thrown her under the bus, lol. Since black women couldn't get this misoginistic crap to stop, maybe white women can. As long as no brother ever calls me a bitch to my face I'm good. When he does I'm going to take out a gun and shoot the bitch, lol.

LAWLESSNESS TWO: AND NOW THIS

He was only thirteen. He was not from this area. He was visiting his great grandmother who is dying from cancer. He was standing on the street on Saturday morning. They were all standing outside talking. A car pulled up and the occupants said *what's up?* and started firing. The child's mother is in the hospital. She can barely understand that her son is dead. She has a shattered arm. The occupants of the car fired on the crowd, shooting the child several times. He died. Family members are devistated because their straight A child is dead. There are people who know who did this. But they won't tell. They are scared. Of being dead, too. Telling the truth, making life sacred, is now *snitching*. The men who commit these crimes are willing to kill anyone who *snitches*. To them life is not sacred. They are lawless because they were never given laws. They have invented *laws*. Street laws. Whatever *laws* they live by, guide their lives by. There was no robbery. No drug deal gone wrong. No 30 year community grievence, forgotten down through the years but kept up by the children in the community. That happens. But not in this case. Maybe they did it for a gang initiation. Maybe it was just for fun. But it certainly was because they have nothing better to do in their lives. Nothing beyond shooting someone else's child dead. Once again, it's not the lawless of the streets, but the lawlessness that people bring from their homes.

A BETRAYAL OF TRUST

I can't seem to get this danged blogger to upload a pic of Pat Tillman, former football star and ranger, who was killed by friendly fire in 2004, but you know the pic, the one of him in his uniform and cap. Well, today I heard one of the most ignant and stupidest pieces of news; no one can recall the details of Tillman's death, house probe finds. Now. This was a young man who gave up one of the most promising careers in football to take up service for his country and he died in the line of duty. george bush and karl rove used his death for advertising purposes and government propaganda, never informing the public or his parents that he had died from friendly fire, or the entire story of his death until senate hearings. Now they can't remember. What an unholy betrayal of trust. This young man served his country with great honor and dignity, and they couldn't even honor his service with the truth. Find the story here because I couldn't find it in our local papers. Shame.

RACE, PREJUDICE AND THE MAGIC NEGRO

This is the response I posted to an article on the carpetbagger report about racial prejudice.



36.

On June 23rd, 2008 at 9:20 am, gentlerabbit said:

How is Obama’s candidacy supposed to make race relations better and why should it hinge on that? Why can’t we be friends now, instead of when he’s president? Why should it take that to get whites and blacks together? His presidency is not going to help that if you are not talking to blacks already, believe me. If you’re not talking to me now, what will make you talk to me if he becomes president? Some wonderful, magical powder? What?

Hey Mr. Bus Driver, stop to think a moment that black boys are not a precious commodity in this country, which has spent decades telling them so. They are nothing and nobody, and who wants and cares for them? This country, this world, considers white children the most precious commodity on earth, and it spends all it’s time telling people that. It tells black children that they are worthless and not worth a thought, and that what they were doing on your bus is as far as they will get.

This is why race relations aren’t any better in this country, because you people had to wait for the “magic Negro” before you could even begin to “see” blacks in this country. Weird. You “talk to” Obama and act as if he should be able to convey whatever message it is you have for blacks to them instead of speaking to us directly. I don’t understand this at all. Race relations isn’t going to change one iota in this country if that man is elected. You will continue to live in your segregated hoods, with all that it affords you, while we live in our hoods with all that they don’t. You will continue to avoid blacks and in fact not even “see” us unless they’re like the kids who get on the bus needing attention in their lives and getting it anyway they can.

FEMINISM AND WHITE WOMEN

I find white feminism to a very strange thing. This past primary, a woman ran for president, one of the most qualified in the world, and you would have thought white women would have been happy with that, but they weren't. There was a bunch of articles written by white women, moaning and groaning about how unfeminine Hillary Clinton was, unfeminine! One woman wrote an article about how she was so disappointed that Hillary did not give an interview to Vogue because she stated that it might make her look too soft. Most of the respondents agreed that Hillary was not feminine enough, that she was too ballsy, too nut cracking, too emasculating. What the hell did they want, a presidential candidate who would declare Vladimir Putin, a cold eyed killer(?) his friend, a man who's soul he had read as good and honest?

When the feminist movement came along I was a young lady, well able to consider what it all meant. Being a black woman is far more different than being a white woman. They could afford to be feminist because the world was built around them, geared towards them, laid at their feet. Just because they now decided to work for a few years, delay getting married and having families, get higher degrees, and all that went with breaking out of that married/mommy mold, didn't mean that when they decided to seek all those things they wouldn't be there for them. In general black women have always had to work outside the home, always had to help bring money into the household to make ends meet and provide those extras for their families, things taken for granted by whites with their greater earning power. Black women have always had to be feminist because of the way they had to live their lives, with the racism and hatred of whites.

Being a feminist is a mindset. It has nothing to with the clothes you wear, whether or not you can cook or bake cookies, raise six kids, or any of those other things white women opined that Hillary did not do. There were so many sort of "unspoken" wishes that Hillary would bake and serve a plate of cookies. What's up with that?! I don't want a president who gets up in the middle of the night to bake a batch of chocolate chips. Unless it's at my house. She wore pantsuits, she looked manly, not feminine at all. O.K. So you're in a pool full of pants wearing men. If you were to wear skirts and dresses and show leg, what would have been the first thing out their mouths? She's playing the sex card, looking too sexy and feminine! She quelled one thing only to have them open fire on her on another front.

From the time I was fifteen, until the time I was forty-six, when my mom finally passed away, I was her caretaker. Why? Because that poor woman was mentally deranged. She passed away in the house we were living in at the time, and I was totally scared. I had never handled death in any way shape or form, and didn't know what to expect. I didn't want her to be in any pain, but I wanted to grant her wish of not dying in a hospital. I dealt with the funeral arrangements, the church, the arrangements for the services at Arlington, and with my sister. I failed in some things, passed in others. That's life. I have always considered myself a feminist, maybe because I have always considered myself a seeker of civil rights. The two go hand in hand with each other, except I would say that civil rights come first. I was too young by about two years to run away from home to join the movement, but I did my part. The same for the feminist movement. I have always cast my vote for those who would promote and protect my rights, and as a young woman fought for Roe vs. Wade.

The clothes that you wear don't make you a feminist. The cookies that you bake don't make you feminine. Being a feminist for me has meant that I participated in votes, in studying candidates who had my best interest at heart, adding my voice to keep the supremes from overturning Roe vs. Wade, and eroding so many of our other reproductive rights. Trying to see to the educational rights of young girls in this country, as well as all children. Equal pay for equal work, which we don't have yet. It simply means looking after the needs of women. I've raised a child on my own. How tough is that? Tough. I would never chose to do it again because I'd want my child to have a father. But does that necessarily make me feminine? A woman? Every woman who has a womb has the potential to give birth, but does that mean she will make an excellent mother?

It was strange, but none of the women who wrote that Hillary seemed too mannish for them didn't really note the finely honed and intelligent mind this woman has. Did you see her on Bill O'Reilly, keeping him in his place, all the while speaking on the questions he tossed at her? I listened to her intently, wanting to see how she would answer those questions, and according to him she gave not one wrong answer, except the one he didn't like about the troops, I think. Her poise and skill at handling all types of situations were hardly discussed. The author of the article that set me off talked about the fact that Hillary did not do a Vogue interview. So that she could appear softer, more feminine. Wtfiuwt?! What about appearing knowledgible before other nations of the world? For the past eight years we've had a male president who is as dumb as a door knob, and who dragged this country into a war for oil. Yes. A war for oil is what this man allowed Americans to be killed over. Could Hillary Clinton do better? I think so, but at this time I will have to wait to find out.

Is there anything such as a feminine feminist? I'm one. Being a feminist doesn't mean you lose your femininity. Those "journalists", or posters on the cesspool, wrote that as a dig against Hillary and set their brand of feminist back 40 years. Because you have bothered to educate yourself, as so many white women do, hone your mind, your intellectual skills, doesn't make you mannish. It simply makes you a well rounded woman. Does wearing a dress or a pair of Prada shoes make you more lady like? If so, what does that make the pope and his red wearing shoe self? Feminine? Am I less feminine because I'm a football freak? Was totally into the Lakers during the Magic years? (I'm so glad they went down in ignominious defeat, lol). Am I feminine because like most women I love clothes? I love fabrics, textures, bright colors, patterns? Am I mannish because I dealt with all the trials and tribulations that went with dealing with a ailing mother, siblings and a child of my own with no outside help from a man whatsoever, much less my own relatives?

The glass ceiling will not be broken this year. It may not happen in my life time at this point. A black man may become our first president. That's another story. White women seem to be happy with this lot, though I'm not quite sure why beyond the myriad of silly, foolish, stupid reasons they have given, and other white women seem agree with them. I don't know where they will find this strange mix of feminist/feminine woman they seek, except to say that she already exist. In me, my sister, your mother perhaps, an aunt, your sister, Hillary Clinton. If we seek the highest office in the land, I don't think that we will need cookie baking skills, or any other "feminine" skills we might have at our beck and call. What we will need is the ability to the best women that we can be when the next opportunity comes to shatter that glass ceiling.

Cookie bakers need not apply.

TRIFFLING RACIST TRASH

O.K., you know I am not a fan of hip hop in way, shape, or form, but I found this post on hatepocesspool(huffingtonpost) to be very racist and disturbing. I ain't even an Obama supporter and I found this mess disturbing. This is the article of some white woman on the cesspool, Mary Battiata.

Lately I've been wondering what an Obama White House might mean for the future of bling. For the fate of heavy gold, medallions, below-the-butt denim, the whole hip-hop gangsta fashion habit. What if January 20, 2009 turned out to be not just a cultural and clothing pivot point for adults -- a return to the minimalism of sleek, 60s-era sharkskin suits, the containment of golf-ball sized Barbara Bush costume pearls -- but a watershed fashion moment for teenaged boys? Picture it. On Inauguration Day next year, thousands and thousands of young men and boys from city street corners to suburbs, look up from their X-Boxes and catch a glimpse of the impeccable President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama climbing the steps of the Capitol and suddenly feel... unfashionable. Out of it. Old. What if they are overcome by the same stunned, something's-happening-here feeling that teenagers in the early 60s, their closets full of sock hop regalia, felt when they first laid eyes on The Beatles in 1964, on the nationally televised Ed Sullivan Show. For adults, this kind of moment is, at most, something to take note of. To a teenager, it's a gale force warning of imminent social tsunami, an urgent prod from the eyeballs and the amygdala that to everything there is a season, and now is the time to change, change, change. Ask not what you can do for your closet, but what your closet, if ignored, can do to you.

This week in the nation's capital, Washington Post's Metro columnist Courtland Milloy wrote about the street scene in the mostly African-American, inner-city neighborhood of Trinidad, where D.C. police have set up a Balkans-style traffic checkpoints in and out of the neighborhood in an effort to stem a recent spate of drug related murders. Sitting on the front porch of 67-year-old Willie Dorn, a retired corrections officer, Milloy noted the antics of a group of teenaged boys "shirtless, pants below their behinds," who, as Milloy and Dorn watched, launched a plastic bottle at a passing scooter, nearly causing an accident. "Maybe a President Obama could help restore some pride in the black community," Dorn said.

The relationship of clothing to behavior is real. Clothes may not "make the man," but they shape the mind in ways large and small. Ask any stay-at-home parent, freelance writer or invalid who has spent one too many days in baggy sweats and stained T-shirts and begins to notice (in a semi-alarmed, detached sort of way, of course) a dwindling of discipline and energy. The well-known Rx for this condition is a shower and a change into grown-up clothes, the kind with seams that may pinch the body, but can help focus the head.

Until Barack Obama came along, the most visible pop culture exemplar of 1960s suit-and-tie style was the tightly-wound Rev. Louis Farrakhan. But Farrakhan, for all his former high visibility, was never mainstream. It's no surprise that he failed to inspire a national craze for slim suits and buffed oxfords.

Barack Obama is different. Barack Obama is the suit next time.

I wrote Huffingtonpost requesting them to take this article down.

LAWLESSNESS BEGINS IN THE HOME

I don't know what the area you live in is like, but the county that I live in borders on Washington, D.C., an unfortunately crime ridden area. It's not like we don't have crime where I live, just not a whole lot of it at this time. Most of the counties which border the district suffer from spill over crimes. The county I grew up on shares a border with the district, and I once worked in that corner. Some of the stories to come out of that area are sad, to say the least. Many of the areas I'm familiar with and grew up in have now become crime ridden, drug infested areas, some into which I would never venture today.

Why aren't the police doing more people ask, what's happening with the police and why aren't they able to bring the number of crimes down? I'm never sure why people ask these questions instead of looking at the sources of the crimes, and more particularly why these crimes are happening. If you are anything like me you were raised right. You were taught right from wrong, how to make good moral and ethical decisions, never to harm others, don't take what doesn't belong to you, never follow a bad crowd, and always obey the law. Back in the long ago day, we couldn't roam our neighborhood, such as it was, without being known by somebody. I remember being stopped one day by some old man out in his yard raking leaves. He asked me if I was so and so, to which I answered no, even though I knew who he was talking about. Then he asked me if I was so and sos daughter, and once again I told him I wasn't, but I had to admit that I was his granddaughter. We were not allowed to back sass our elders or that meant a whipping. We had to answer to any adult who spoke to us because if we didn't they would hear about it. My grandparents, while not very strict, kept us under close watch, and we were not to break the rules. Cursing? One day, one of my sisters made me so mad that I decided to lay her little butt out and damned the consequences. So I told her off and cursed her, and said now, go tell that. That little hussy went flying down those rows of cabbages my grandmother had planted and was working on and told on me. I just waited on the porch for the whipping I knew was coming, and sure enough, my angry grandmother picked up a long handled coal shovel and beat my behind with it. She probably knew that although I had paid a price I was still pleased with myself.

These were my lessons growing up, along with so much else. I came from a large extended family who loved and cared for us and showed it. I passed these same lessons down to my own child, and used the same rules to help keep brothers and sisters in line when I had to. That I know of there are no jailbirds in my family, not one male in my family has ever spent time behind bars. They were way too afraid of my grandfather to have done anything to land them in jail. This is the problem of today's youth; there aren't enough authority figures in the home, not enough adults with the family training raising some of these kids, giving them the kinds of foundations they need to get through life without resorting to something like this.

Any day now we're going to see the parents of the four teens who beat this man to death, crying and sobbing into the cameras about how their children were good children, how they would never do something like this, and about how they, themselves, were good and loving parents. Doesn't it always go this way? Unfortunately, that's not really the way it is. All too many of these homes may be one parent homes, low income, drug addicted, and far too many have parents who were not trained by their parents to become parents. Somewhere along the line we stopped training our children for parenthood, something that used to be a natural part of life. In all too many households there are no father figures, needed by boys and girls. Mothers aren't passing down any lessons that they might have learned about wrong and right, making moral choices, choosing the right friends, and how to stay out of trouble. There's no one reinforcing the idea that there are consequences for their actions. When children have rules and goals set for them things like this don't happen either. Young people don't feel as if they have to rob and steal from each other or strangers, murdering them.

Lawlessness doesn't begin in the streets, it begins in the home, and it begins with the interactions between parent and child. Too many parents don't have the skills it takes to be a good parent, and too many parents aren't involved in their children's lives. One of the things I wish television stations would do is cut the stupid 911 calls, done only for drama, and explore some of the stories of the arrests of people, talk to some of the perpetrators of crimes, get a synopsis of their lives and what led them to commit the crimes they committed. Maybe there should be a program in the schools concerning crime and how to stay out of trouble, to give them a better foundation for adhering to rules and regulations. It's a well known fact that the majority of kids want rules in their lives to keep them from going over the edge, for knowing how they can't go.

Rules and regulations are meant to keep kids safe. In D. C. there's a school curfew and a summer curfew, one of 10 p.m. and the other midnight. I think this incident happened during the school year, when a mother allowed her son to stay out past curfew as a reward for completing an internship. He would have graduated that year. He and a group of his friends had stopped at a local teen spot and were on their way home when he was shot to death. He was not the target, nor were his friends, they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Celebrations and rewards are well and good, but if the child had been at home where he was supposed to be he might not be dead now.

Parenting classes might be one thing, especially if the child has a brush with the law, and parent/child classes, where parents learn to to interact with their children could be another. Lawlessness begins in the home and is then taken to the streets.

WHY DON'T THE SOUTH JUST STAY DEAD?

Huge Confederate Flag to Fly Over Tampa

50-by-30-Foot Symbol of Southern Cause to Fly at Private Site by Highway Crossroads

By DAVID SCHOETZ
June 2, 2008

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The i's are dotted, t's are crossed and a 139-foot flagpole is ready to fly the Stars and Bars over one of the busiest highway interchanges in Florida.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans in Tampa, plans to raise what they claim is the world's largest Confederate flag on a private triangle of land tucked near where Interstates 75 and 4 meet. The flag measures 50 feet by 30 feet.

(www.florida-scv.org)

The Sons of Confederate Veterans in Tampa plan soon to raise what they claim is the world's largest Confederate flag on a private triangle of land tucked near where Interstates 75 and 4 meet. The flag measures 50 feet by 30 feet.

John Adams, commander of the organization's Florida division, has spearheaded the flag project, which includes plans for an accompanying memorial park. And he wants to make sure that the only objections the group faces are based on opinion, not the law.

"You're going to hear some complaints about it for sure," Adams said. "But it's a free country as far as I know."

To some, particularly across many Southern states, the rebel flag represents a rich heritage that includes fighting and dying for the Confederate cause during the Civil War. To others, the flag represents dark memories attached to slavery and racial inequality.

One of those people is Curtis Stokes, president of the NAACP in Hillsborough County, who hopes that a groundswell of opposition to raising the flag might convince the Sons of Confederate Veterans to reconsider.

That's an unlikely scenario, according to Adams. Nearly a decade ago, the 220 members in the state's Sons of Confederate Veterans group launched a project called "Flags Across Florida" in response to a decision by state officials to remove the Confederate flag from a place of prominence near the state capitol in Tallahassee.

WHO IS THIS WHITE MAN AND WHY IS HE TRYING TO DISFRANCHISE ME?!

Who is this white man and why is he trying to disenfranchise me? OK, so I know it's almost all but over and I am going to be forced to accept the giver of Purple Rain(and we all know where it comes from, and yes I know that's nasty, but I don't care), but why do I have to be told by a white man from Canada(dang I want to call it something else, but got to be pc) who to vote for? THIS MAN HAS NO CITIZENSHIP IN THIS COUNTRY! He wrote a piece here, as does everyone, on the virtues of becoming an Obamaton, which I refuse to do. While I respect the rights of his minions, his besotted bots, to vote for the man, as is their right, why do so many people want to disenfranchise me? Take my rights from me? Doesn't anybody care about fair play anymore, or is it just so much hatred overruling people's minds that they can't see straight? While I have no love for Obama, it would never occur to me to try and prevent people for voting for the man, and in fact insure that they get their chance to do so. This is the way our voting system is structured, and those of us who should applaud its' use the most should be African Americans, who's votes have for so long been disenfranchised, witness Florida.

People, we really need to remember our history. It was not that long ago that our votes were discounted in every way imaginable, once given to us. With Dr. King shinning a light on those practices, poll taxes, having to prove reading skills, forms of id which we might not have, all manner of things to keep up from voting, we need to be very careful in the ways in which we treat each other when it comes to the sacred right of voting, whether we decide to exercise it by standing in incredibly long lines, send our ballots in, or whatever the process, we need to remember that at times people have given their lives to ensure that we have that right. Blacks in this country have not always had that right guaranteed, and you can be sure that there will be some shenanigans with this election. We need to also remember that when we cast our ballots we may also be doing so for others who can't vote for themselves, those who are incapable of doing so and who need us to do so for them, so to speak. I always felt that the democratic party was one who tried to see to the needs of those who were already disenfranchised by circumstances beyond their control, but with this election cycle I'm afraid that may no longer be true.

If Purple Rain has any sense he will stop trying to disenfranchise the rest of us voters, but hey, it took him this long to leave that hell hole of a church he belonged to. Won't save his soul tho, lol. The man in the picture is Donald Sutherland, who is a citizen of Canada, not of these Ununited States of America, father of Kiefer Sutherland, he of 24 fame. I have no problem with this, but he made me angry weighing in on American politics, trying to disenfranchise me! Bad enough I have to have American white males with their feet on my neck, but dang, go back to Canuckistan you Canadian! Lol.

THE DEATH OF MUSIC

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Now playing: Duke Ellington and his Orchestra - Take The "A" Train
via FoxyTunes

The other day I finally realized and accepted something I had been in denial about for many years now, and that is that music as I once knew and loved it is now dead. I've spent the last oh, eight to ten years hoping and wishing that it would come back, that it would be revived, that people would get tired of the current slop being served to the public as music, but I know that isn't going to happen, ever.

The greatest age of music, the jazz age, managed to last for decades, from it's birth with the great and wonderful Duke Ellington, to it's sort of semi death, with Duke Ellington. Jazz master extraordinaire, Mr. Ellington invented that rarest forms of music, one which was born only on this continent, in other words, purely American. Rag time, blues and gospel, along with any other form of black music are the only American originals, born of artists from this country. All other forms of music originate from forms brought over by Europeans, possibly with the exception of rock. It should be noted here that blacks did not invent rock. Bill Haley and the Comets, a cowboy group looking for a new sound, sang the first rock song, Rock Around the Clock, and thus was born rock and roll. Now, what happened is that black rockers, such as Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly, and the Isely Brothers, came on the scene, and white rockers stole their sound and imitated it. The Beattles had a huge mega hit with the Isely's Twist and Shout. The Beach Boys openly admitted and gave credit where credit was due as they took on the sounds of Chuck Berry.

What made me accept the fact that music as I once knew it, would never come back? The realization that each type of music has its' own place and time in history. The jazz age lasted nearly fifty years, from about 1926 to about 1974. I mark it this way because it could still be heard prominently on the radio, and was still being widely recorded. Many of its' kings and queens were still living and performing, such as the great Ella Fitzgerald, the greatest of all jazz voices. Soul and r&b, ushered in by the likes of Dinah Washington and James Brown, has finally bit the dust, right along with funk. Aretha, that great and beautiful queen, Gladys, Anita, Tina, all of them have been relegated to musical oldies dust bins, and for who? A bevy of beauties who cannot sing. Alicia Keys may be a nice sister, but the girl can't sing. Ciara? Please. Rhiannon? They let this fool stick around because she's pretty. I once tried to listen to that sister. Cats in a blender. Ann Hedly can actually sing, but her neo soul is actually depressing as is most of it, boring and depressing. Will somebody please tell me what's up with John Legend? Why does he sing in that dead pan voice of his? He sings in one voice only and it never changes or shows emotion. What's up with that?

One of the first killers of good music was the demise of actually developing talent. Recording companies such as Motown and the great Barry Gordy used to develop talent and groups before setting them free on the scene. Smokey Robinson was already a great writer of music and lyrics, but Barry Gordy taught him to be great. Diana Ross and the Supremes were developed by Gordy and his teachers. Many of the fine girl groups of the day came through Motown and were developed there. Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell were Motown marvels. Stevie Wonder remains at Motown to this day, writing his own ticket, I'm sure. Recording companies got to hiring so many untalented people until much of music was destroyed.

Then we come to rap and hip hop. As far back as the mid to late eighties rap artists were screaming that rap was the only form of music that there was for black people, and no other, which was strange. As I have previously pointed out, blacks have created the only forms of music original to this country, so that really couldn't be. We actually thought that hard core rappers would kill Will Smith because he wasn't hard core enough! They beat that drum and beat that drum until hip hop is all that's left of "music" now. Music is no longer as fun, fresh and funky as it used to be, and I miss that. You no longer have to have talent to enter the business. All a male hip hop band needs is the ability to call women bitches, whores, sluts, tramps, and any other dehumanizing name they can think of, while considering themselves humans. I've heard one such "artist" state that they call sisters bitches because sisters call themselves bitches, something I've never heard of before. I wonder, then why didn't they step up to the plate and let sisters know that this was wrong? Nellie once asked if he would be forever known for sliding a credit card down the crack of a sister's ass. Yes. He knew better even if she did agree. It's your "art" mutt, stand by it. The sisters? They are so untalented they depress me greatly when I hear them. Their voices are mediocre to sub par, and while many of them are very pretty you wonder who they had to screw to get a contract. Most of them don't last past yesterday anymore. Anita Baker was the last great female voice to come along. Alicia simply cannot sing, no matter what anyone says or does, she simply can't. Mariah? Too uneven to be great. Beyonce? Cute don't cut it. Janet? Control was it. Then she lost it. Mediocrity rules, and that's all there is these days.

The days of great music ended with the eighties. Now I listen to music on Rhapsody, and mostly it's jazz or oldies. It's hard to find good music on the radio anymore, but we do have one jazz station, when it's playing jazz. I've given up hope that hip hop will die and music will come back, lol. For about five years I fought a battle against brothers calling sisters all those names in song, but I've given up on that, too. I'm surprised at how much it's changing our lives, though. Many young sisters are moving away from brothers and dating and marrying men outside the race, pushed by the hatred and misogyny of those songs. I was kind of shocked at this, but pleased and saddened at the same time. I used to feel that there was nothing so beautiful as a brother, now I'm not so sure. Too many brothers don't say anything against the hateful portrayal of us sisters in many of these lyrics, too many of us don't feel loved by brothers anymore. Hatred for a dime has done its' work.

Music as I once knew it will never return. I think all of the original Temptations, one of my first musical loves, are all deceased now. Legend goes, and is true, that having heard the song My Girl, they begged Smokey to allow them to sing the song, and were they ever right. To this day, those brothers singing that song remains one of my enduring loves, a song about how much a brother loves a sister. Listen to Smokey sing You Can Depend On Me. It's not a long song, but there is a brother who knows what to do with his voice; sing in a sister's panties, lol. Listen to Marvin sing I Heard It Through The Grapevine. Want to have your heart broken? Listen to an extremely young Patti LaBelle and the Blue Bells as she sings Down The Isle. It isn't the words so much as it is her voice, or any of their voices really. It's the voice that makes the song. Where in the world is Maxwell?

I didn't start out hating rap and hip hop. One of my all time favorites remains Wild Wild West by Kool Moe Dee. I used to get down to that song! Brothers never wanted to dance with a thick sister, looking for someone to take home, but hell, I wasn't looking for no pound puppy in the clubs. I just wanted to dance and when they found out I could I stayed on the floor. I wasn't there for no one night disease getting stand, hell naw. I don't hate hip hop anymore. How can you hate something you don't even listen to? As for the lyrics, there's a price to be paid for everything, spiritually and here on earth, and besides, there's nothing I can do about it. Fools like David Banner will snot and whine that they can't make a dollar without those lyrics, so once again the white man who owns the recording companies have enslaved the souls of black men, who can't or won't see any other way out. So be it. The fact of the matter is that I don't have to listen to that music, and so I don't. I'm exploring doing a pod cast of oldies and some jazz, so maybe you'll be listening to me do an oldies show one of these days.

ON BARACK OBAMA AND BLACK LEADERSHIP

Dear Good and Gentle Reader;

As we all know we are in the election season, seeking to chose our democratic candidate to run against the very ancient Senator McCain, he whom I call Ghostrider. Others have called him old, senile, grumphy old gramps. Well, all of those things apply. For some reason unknown to me, it seems that everyone in the world wants what they consider our protracted run to end. They want one of the candidates to drop out of the race and give up their dream of becoming president. This has never happened before in my life time, and I hope it never does. Gentle reader, too many of us seem to have forgotten what a presidential race is all about. Candidates must present themselves to us with all their reasons for wanting to become our next president/candidate, so that we may look them over, hear their views and plans, then vote for them in whatever method exist in our home states. We do not now and never have handed the candidacy to and one candidate on a platter, nor have we ever listened to those others(mostly conservatives), telling us that this is a prolonged and protracted race which needs to be over. At this point in time the race needs to go right up to the convention, unless something is arranged between the two candidates themselves.

Gentle reader, I will admit that there is something greatly bothering me here. Both of the current candidates could make history here, so shortening the race by commanding that one of the candidates drop out is nothing more than disenfranchisement to me, on several levels. The candidate who is "asked" to drop out of the race and thereby end their candidacy would be disenfranchised. At this moment, a black man and a white woman, two of the most qualified people in America today, are running for the democratic presidential nomination, and both have enough appeal to make it. In the eyes of those who support each candidate, both are educated enough and talented enough for the job. Yet history stands in the way. History, along with color, gender, and the one biggest past factor in this country, slavery. It's all so mixed up that I have started to think that it has clouded our judgment and our ability to view the candidates as they really are. Now I would ask you reader this; what if the woman were African American? Would you so easily demand that she give up her right to run for president just so that an African American man might win?

This should not have been a war, it should have been a race. It has been turned into a war because so many of the voters express a "hatred" for on candidate over the other, and this, gentle reader has obscured they way things really should run. A race is run by as many runners as want to start at the start line and finish at the finish line. Along the way some of the racers drop out of their own accord, but none are forced out by the other participants, or by spectators gathered along the way to watch the race. Officials of the race are there to make sure that all the participants get the chance to do what they think best, not what the officials or spectators think is best. You always think that those who participate in the race do so because this is what they prepared many years for, and who is to deny them their dream? You? Me? Those outside the race who are merely haters and trouble makers? And what happens to the dreams of the participant? Of those who might have voted for that candidate? Are you willing to disenfranchise the rights of some for the wants and desires of others? Haven't we been through enough of being disenfranchised throughout history?


Months away from the vote still, and I have already made up my mind as to who I am voting for should this candidate obtain the nomination, and yet somehow I still feel left out. When I first heard one of the candidates speak I was excited for the first few moments of his speech. I don't know what kicked in and dampened my enthusiasm for him, I'm still not sure what inner voice I was listening to when I began to feel that he was just another politician, but I did and I haven't lost the feeling yet. In fact it has deepened way past that. At the very worst I have no confidence in this man's skills and abilities to run this country, or the war the current president has gotten us into. I see the reactions to this man and his speeches, I see the amount of people he can command at gatherings, and I am impressed, but that is the only thing which impresses me.

Somewhere today I was reading a blogger who said that to be a Hillary supporter is to be hated, and I know this. I support Hillary Clinton because I think that her candidacy would turn this country around, and right the wrongs of the current administration, though not the war. We're going the have troops stationed there for many years to come, and that's a fact, no matter what the candidates may say. I trust Clinton to do for this country what needs doing to get us back to where we need to be, especially with our allies. I think that by the end of her second term we'll be back to where we were pre-bush days.

Do I think that a black man cannot run this country? No, because many do already, as senators and representatives, it is their votes and decisions that run this country. There should be at least two candidates in the Black Caucus who would be more than able to run this country. Many more are becoming governors of large states, which means dealing with the problems of the country on a smaller scale. Within the next ten years we should have a handful of men and women ready to run this country while black. I simply don't feel that Barack Obama is the one. I'm not going to list the many reasons here, because for the most part I think the good reader should set out to discover what they need to know on their own. I will provide a list of concerns which if addressed could reverse my decision not to vote for him. But I will say this good readers, I think that each and every candidate should vet themselves before stepping up to that run for the presidency, because if they don't the other party will do if for them, and this is my fear with Mr. Obama. The republicans have already vetted him and they know all the dirt worth knowing.

Here are some things that would make me reconsider voting for Mr. Obama;

1. Vetting himself and rethinking his decision because you can best believe that the republicans
have done an extraordinary job of making a book on that man as thick as a training manual

2. Reparations; I feel that as one of the most recently viable black candidates for the presidency
Mr. Obama has the ability to right a wrong in this country, and thereby help black people as
never before, achieve some measure of what is owed them for what has been done from
slavery until now. Just think how reparation monies could help the victims of Katrina

3. If he did only the above for blacks in this country it would go along way to helping us achieve
the so called American dream. I have actually seen some angry white bloggers, mad that we
don't see this country the way they do, as the greatest nation on earth; when was it ever that
to us?

4. Whites will always get what they want and need, so I see it as up to Mr. Obama to help blacks
get what they want and need, from housing and education to health care benefits, I want to
see what his plans are in relation to the needs of our people

5. Just because people declare Mr. Obama a uniter doesn't necessarily mean that he is. He
needs to prove that he is by telling whites that they must still dialog with blacks and that
forgiveness is not to be had just because he gets elected. Anything else he manages to get
done is gravey

I am only too well aware that this is or can be an historic election. We have an overly qualified woman and an extremely qualified and gifted black man running for the highest office in the land and that's what scares me. For Mr. Obama history means much, in fact much more than people realize, black or white. For one thing it could mean that if Mr. Obama is elected, depending on the outcome of his presidency, it may either be 10 or 1,000 years that another black is elected to that office. If it goes badly it could mean that whites will not only never look at us the same way ever again, they will think a thousand times more badly of us than they already do. His mistakes will be magnified, transmogrified, morphed and beaten into the ground, used against the next black who even thinks they want to become president. White folks will rip black folks a brand new ass. If his presidency is lackluster and his decisions not up to par we will know about it.

The biggest misgivings that I have are that Barack Obama can never live up to the expectations that people have of him, and that he let's people have of him, that he is some kind of god come down from the heavens to be placed on a pedestal and worshiped. He has an incredibly huge ego and is extremely cold and calculating, more so than people might think. They have flocked to this man as if he is the second coming, and I fear that all too soon it will be found that he is no more than a common man, and perhaps less of one at that. For me, Obama hasn't proved that he has either the experience or the maturity for the coming task of being president of the United States of America, and if he does win the seat and fails, he will have set race relations back to when whites wanted us as slaves, as if they didn't now.

Reader, I wish I could feel differently. I wish I could feel the euphoria, the high, the togetherness everyone else so readily feels, but I don't. I want to see in this man what everyone else feels, but I can't. This could be the start of a whole new generational way of thinking for us as American Blacks, maybe it would stop that strange ghetto thinking we seem to love, this embracing of a gangster mentality we never had before, a thinking that's taking and keeping us down. But I don't see it. Don't I think it's time for a black man/woman to become president? Hell yeah. Would this solve all our problems, black or white? Hell naw. But if we just got one or two solved, that would help. Don't I think Obama is black enough? That has never been an issue for me, nor will it be. My questions have to do with his integrity, ethics, judgment, sense of history, of where he wants to bring "his people" first, and others later. Do I think he should have a sense of obligation to the blacks he would ask to vote for him? YES! There's just no way you can ask for something as precious as our votes and then not give something in return, and blacks should not just give their votes away, no matter who the candidate is.

The bottom line is gentle reader, we just can't give our vote to the man because he is black. We have every right to ask what's in it for us, why shouldn't we? Who is elected to office depends on us, and if some of us are disenfranchised enough to keep our votes to ourselves it could very well effect this election, and really, do we need that? Just think of two recent events that rocked Obama's world. Rev. Wright. Not going to Memphis. This place represents the end of the dreamer and dreams still unfulfilled in this country. He also should have gone as a representative of the millions of blacks still disenfranchised in this country, and who, for one reason or another will not be voting this election. They, more than anyone else, deserve our thoughts and his.

In the end, because this election is so historically important, I just don't want to see this man handed the nomination on a silver platter just to have it all thrown back in our faces, with all the opposite above; gross incompetence, lack luster skills, poor judgment, and a whole host of other things we've had for the last four years. This really deserves our grave and earnest best thoughts and consideration before we pull that lever come November.

The fact that Sen. Obama did not go to three historical events, one of them commemorating the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King, whom he styles himself after, has essentially sealed his fate for me. While I no longer need a "leader", too many of my people still do, and to have seen him there where Dr. King once stood would have been the audacity of hope. I'll keep looking and waiting, but this past weekend didn't help him any.

BLACK POWER! LAST OF THE MILITANTS

I swear to you, I think black militancy in this country needs to make a comeback because there is some truly weird thinking going on in this country, there really is. This is a response to a column here on Hatepo(formerly known as Huffington Post). I call it that because the posters there do nothing but hate on Hillary Clinton and lap up Obama with a spoon(ickkk).

Let's see, who's on the list of loyal disloyals, Kerry, Kennedy, and how many others, with their strange reasons for becoming the most disloyal scumbags ever to walk the earth? I once had respect for these men, but Kerry now looks like the total idiot that he is and Kennedy is a true TRex, tho I like the dino more than I do him these days. And now Richardson? Who gives a rat's ass? Big mealy mouthed traitors all, and they better not ask for my help or support. I went thro my bank acct and found money to give to Hillary. If she is not the nominee then I will simply not vote for Obama, the Flimflam Man from Nowhere, Bamboozle. But I still don't think he will become the president due to the fact that he hasn't been vetted for the other stuff in his background.

AND I STILL DON'T ABSOLVE WHITES OF THEIR RACIST GUILT!!! AIIGHT!! LOL.

I have no intentions of letting you off for not doing what you should, what you know you should. You will still have to look at my black face and feel whatever it is you feel until you speak to me and begin an honest dialog about the work still to be done in this country concerning racism and the mistreatment of blacks. Absolution cannot be granted by one man, nor can his election to the presidency wipe out almost two hundred years of post slavery racism in this country. I don't understand how you people think that works. So you elect Prince Obama, who ain't done a damn thing, (didn't go to New Orleans, to Jena, to Smiley), or who hasn't done a damn thing that I can detect, just so that you might be absolved of your white racist guilt, then you all go home and nothing more gets done about the plight of blacks in this country than has been done in the last forty years since Dr. King died? Is this what you people really think? Like I said, how the hell do you think that works? Has the Prince told black folks that they get nothing out of this deal? That he hasn't promised them a damned thing, no new housing, no new schools, hospitals, jobs, nothing? REPARATIONS? I CAN'T HEAR YOU! So, Prince Obama becomes King, blacks and whites dance in the streets for five minutes then we go back to our zombified racially stratisfied lives? Walking the streets, never looking at each other, with the same old racist things going on? Give me a damned break, you lazy ass cretins, please. Not only is that physically lazy, it's intellectually lazy and dishonest! You people constantly trip me out with this bogus mess of yours, dishonest and slovenly. Dang, ya'll good at it tho. I mean just think, if these turncoats have swung over to the prince, what makes you think they won't turn on him, given the opportunity? It's just like cheating people, they always cheat.

To me, a fifty-four year old black woman in this country, this is not an honest dialog and it means nothing to me. Obama has shown me nothing, told me nothing, that makes me want to vote for him. His bamboozle has not taken with me, and as far as I'm concerned, it's all a fake. Sorry folks, but he is not the one.

MY PATRIOTISM AIN'T LIKE YOUR PATRIOTISM

What's up with white people and flag lapel pins? How did they come to symbolize patriotism? Yes, I know, it's just a ploy by the right wing nut fools but dang, who the hell gives a rat's ass? Yes, I know too that it's a signal to other right wing nut fools that a black man who doesn't wear a flag lapel pin is not patriotic. You know white folks need to get over having symbols and using symbols for patriotism should mean something to black folks cause it don't. (See below). Conservative withes hate our guts and that's a fact. They haven't liked us since they set eyes on the first black man they enslaved so why do they pretend? They can barely contain themselves now, and the only thing that keeps them from fully despising us is political correctness, we all know this.

That damned lapel don't mean a thing to those people except when expedient. It's expedient for them to use it against Obama. He's not patriotic. He's not one of us. He's some kind of bi-racial foreigner. He can't even cross his heart for the Pledge of Allegiance, gasp! That's illegal! No, it's not. Blond witches and himbos sit on the sets of Fixed Noise giggling and tee hee heeing over the fact that the man doesn't cross his heart or wear the pin, and that not crossing your heart during the pledge is some rule or regulation that nobody but them ever heard of, pointing to the text that says nothing of the sort. More evil, ignorant and racist crap.

Right wingers are the very same folks who drove a wedge into the relationships between blacks and whites and they are the ones who keep it there. Their racial hatred of blacks in this country is almost a living thing, and if the young think they know something about racism they ain't seen nothing yet. If Obama becomes the party candidate the white gloves will come off and those white people will be ready to get their hands dirty in some good old fashion racial mud slinging. They will unleash every devious racial trick in the book on that man and his family and it's gonna get ugly in these United States. If they can, they will make it look like a throw back to the 1950's and 60's, when it was still alright, in their minds, to call black folks niggers. In fact, I fully expect them to invoke that word some way some how, just watch. Or colored boy, lol.

When you drive thro some neighborhoods you can find at least one or two Amerrcan flags (said bush style) planted in some yards. I'm sure that after the tragedy of 9/11 thousands were planted in patriotic fervor. To me, whites have this strange, obsessive kind of patriotism, that flag waving thing, that we as blacks, have never been allowed to have. We've never been allowed to fully participate in the patriotic rituals of this country, so they virtually almost mean nothing to us. We don't love our country any less, we just don't hang onto all the symbolism like whites do.

Yes, it's already started, lessons in Racism 101, and nobody does it better than white conservatives. They know how to practice racism really well, and do, every damned day of their lives. So Obama, if you are the nominee get ready, cause white people got something for your narrow behind, and they will tell you every chance they get that you're nothing but a water melon eating, seed spitting black boy, and don't you forget it. And save me a chicken leg, dammit!

Oh, since this writing a white right wing nut here is already starting stuff.

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN

Recently that twit, Michelle Obama, made a remark that for the first time she was proud of her country, setting off a firestorm of controversy for some reason. I don't know what Obama meant and little do I care. But I can tell you what set white folk's teeth on edge. GUILT. Plain and simple. Why do they seem to think that blacks should feel the same flag waving national obsession as they do? I stopped saying the pledge of allegiance when I was ten years old. There was nobody I could ask as to why my country hated on me so much, why they wanted to destroy me wholesale, why they wanted to obliterate me, a child.

The year is 1964, and as a child in school part of our daily routine is to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. The Vietnam War is raging on, sucking up the lives of thousands of brothers, enlisting or drafted into this insane war. The civil rights movement is at it's height, with marches and sit-ins happening daily. Hoses, dogs, night sticks, were used on my people daily, black people, doing nothing more than demanding what belonged to them, the right to be free in the country they now called theirs, not through coming here with the settlers willingly, not by way of Ellis Island, and an invite, not through immigration, not through illegal immigration, crossing the border into this country. We came by slavery.

We were stolen, kidnapped, rounded up like cattle, hurled onto slave ships and dragged to this country in fear and terror, not knowing or understanding what was happening to us. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, grandparents, babies, children. Young, old, firm and infirm. Can you imagine what happened to you if you were found to be too old, sick, infirm? Can you? What kind of hatred and evil did it take to toss another human over the side of ship like so much unwanted garbage?

Of course you might get lucky. You might get sick from the ill treatment received on the voyage over, sick enough to die. You might get lucky enough to be able to kill yourself by hurling yourself overboard. Being really unlucky? Being raped. Being used and abused by the men of the ship if you are a female and they feel they want to do so. Was any newly captured African woman safe from the horrors of this crime?

Slavery comes and slavery goes. It is estimated that 200 million people of African decent were murdered during the course of slavery. Murder is my term, but murder is what it is. The numbers could be higher of course, but we will never know. Slavery existed in this country for 200 hate filled years, and Michael Medved need not tell us that they were years filled with happy slaves singing zippty do da as that freak Walt Disney would have you believe. He would have you believe that slaves were happy, well cared for, and that slavery was not the heinous institution we make it out to be. Dragged from your homeland by strange people; put in shackles so you can't escape; death and atrocities on the crossing; ripped from the arms of kith and kin; hard years of slaving in the fields of whites, on plantations, for their gain, not yours; no benefits package; kith and kin ripped from your arms, sold to others, never to see them again; oh happy damn day.

Slavery finally ends but the hate remains. So much so that Lincoln is assassinated. Thus begins the long journey of our nightmare, freedom. What's so free about it? Now the hatred really begins. Segregation begins in every aspect of black life. Housing, education, jobs, health care, transportation, you name it, we got Jim Crow for it. Suppressed, repressed, depressed, squashed and put down. Now even more hated than before when we were slaves, hatred is heaped on us for now merely existing.

With Dr. King and sister Rosa Parks, come hope and deliverance. Cedric the lardbutt entertainer(sic) needs to return to school to bone up on his black history studies. If Sister Parks had not refused to give up her seat on that bus on that day, his fat hide would still be riding the back of the bus. It is a moment that changed history. Dr. King delivered us from the oppression not of slave masters, but of those angry and hateful because we gained our freedom, and they still continued their anger and hatred. I should forget the ignorance of someone who didn't take time with their history or possibly didn't even care what ignorance came out of his mouth for the sake of comedy. He wasn't funny.

Unfortunately, Dr. King didn't live long enough to finish his work, and we have not continued it as well as we should have. EVERYONE has dropped the ball to a certain extent and to the detriment of us all. Racism, which is as deeply ingrained in this country as it ever was, had gone underground, under the detection of our radar, to the point that a few words said by Michelle Obama hit a nerve. Maybe she felt it the way people percieved it, maybe she meant nothing by the remark. But I can totally understand it because I lived it, felt it, that my country did not want or need my pride in it. Why, how, could I have pride in a country which openly hated me, having done what it's done to me, to my ancestors? How can I when I was never fully embraced by the country which enslaved and freed me, but still hated me afterwards? How?

Do you ever wonder why there were no blacks in Sex In The City? Because whites still can't manage to see blacks as basically normal human beings, with the same lives, same feelings, same wants and desires as their's. Guilt. It doesn't allow them to see us at all, too many times. Hate now comes from another reason as whites see it. Now that we've been free for more than a hundred years why can't we make it? Why aren't we better educated, better housed, better jobbed(!), in fact, why don't we have better everything now that we're free? And why do we keep committing so much crime, having so many out of wedlock babies, not getting married, filling up the jails? Because, tho they won't admit it, we are still locked down by their perceptions and their hatred. And their guilt.

Is any of the above what Michelle Obama meant? I neither know nor care. I do know the feelings can be out there, where they stem from, and why. I don't know if she has them so I don't claim to understand her or what she meant to say. I had been thinking about this for a long time, so she is just the catalyst for this post. I don't support her, and I most definitely don't support her husband. But I do support their right to say whatever they feel because that is who I am, and because of the sacrifice that went into gaining them that right.

I should have stated that this post was really in response to a post by Taylor Marsh on her blog, here.

LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING

James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871 – June 26, 1938) was an American author, politician, critic, journalist, poet, anthropologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, early civil rights activist, and prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson is best remembered for his writing, which includes novels, poems, and collections of folklore. He was also one of the first African-American professors at New York University. Later in life he was a Professor of Creative Literature and Writing at Fisk University.

Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.