URBAN HANG SUITE

THE UGLY AMERICAN; A RESPONSE

2008-10-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

O MY FREAKING GOD!

2008-08-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-31T19:54:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-30T22:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-23T06:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-09T18:04:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-06-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

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?!

2008-05-31T15:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

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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

2008-03-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-28T20:52:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-18T14:47:00.000-08:00

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.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS LELA ROCHON?

2008-02-06T15:30:00.000-08:00

Whatever happened the image of strong black women? All during the eighties we had some of the strongest singing sisters since the jazz age come through. Aretha, Chaka, Anita, Gladys, Minnie, Phyllis, (rest their souls). Then there were actresses such as Cecily Tyson, Diana Ross, Lela Rochon, and whoever else came through during those mid to late nineties. Of course, we were all over television during the mid to late nineties, in so many sitcoms you lost count. But where are we now? Why did we all of a sudden disappear from almost every venue, even music?

During the mid nineties Fox and WBFW vied to see who could run the most black shows, and while I don't know who won, I do know that for a time black folks did. At this point I suppose I should make a confession; I don't watch much commercial and I rarely caught the many shows on. I haven't watched much commercial tv in the last almost 28 years or so. Until the 70's it was very rare for blacks to appear as regulars in any major television production. Did you ever notice that if the production is all white there can only be one reoccurring black character? He/she never has a family or love interest, just there for comic relief. I see old Julia has a new love interest and he's black.

Sex in The City. Four incredibly skinny and not attractive white women and the stories of their lives. One day I'm going to write about why race matters, and this is part of it. I have had some really wonderful relationships with white women, very close ones, but not in recent years. Our lives, in too many deep ways, are nothing alike, and while we can get over this during childhood, by the time we're adults our lives have really diverged brought on by life experiences. Besides, whites see our sex lives in such outlandish and caricatured ways we could never have been in City. White people probably think that if a sister kissed on a white man the screen would burn down. Then they'd be ready to burn us all at the stake.

Let's see. UPN used to have some black shows on, but not any more I don't think. Tyler Perry is on tbs or tnt, can't remember which. Bernie Mack finally bit the dust as well he should have. I just don't know what fascinates people about public cursing. Is Dennis Hayesbert still on the Unit? Is the Unit still on?

Right now I'm following Terminator:The Sarah Connor Chronicles. For the first time since I don't know when, I am actually following a t.v. series, and that is a feat for me. I wanted to follow Lost, but couldn't, and Ghost Whisperer, but didn't. I love Terminator 1 and 2, 3 sucks bad, but the the t.v. series? It's the bomb, lol. The thing is tight, just the way it ought to be, and I can't believe they did 3. O.K., in case you're wondering, on a certain level I am an Arnie fan, but just of the Terminator series, 1 and 2 being excellent scifi, which I really love. Otherwise, Arnie needs a face slapping for real, lol. Is Maria frigid? Isn't that what they used to call it? Frigid! Ewww, I shudder at the thought! I don't suppose tho, if girlfriend gave him some 365 she still wouldn't cool that thing down. I'm waiting to see how much the brother's character develops.

Martin Lawrence has a new movie coming out. Sigh. At least it ain't Friday. It looks like it should be funny, I've laughed at some of the ads for it. LL Cool J as a lover. Naw, it don't work! Soup Cooler Lover In Da House, lol. Denzel. I wish he would just make a romantic comedy or two, shoot do some remakes, Bringing Up Baby, Arsenic and Old Lace would be great, just so I could stare at him. Boy, he could hire so many black folks, all the ones they wouldn't hire for feature films back then.

Well, it seems as if they is one place you can find us in abundance now. Commercials. Ever notice how many of us are showing up in those things? I shouldn't complain, at least we can get work somewhere.

WHO OWNS BLACK ONLINE COMMUNITIES?

2008-01-31T00:19:00.000-08:00

Asians, lol. BlackPlanet, which I used to belong to years ago, is owned by Asians! Dang. If ever I join another community, which I'm not inclined to, I will make sure it's owned by blacks. I want to join that dang group and tell them to defect, en mass. They could create a community at MSN for free and be in control.

SNUB OF THE CENTURY

2008-01-29T19:45:00.000-08:00

Now. I know you might be enemies, know you might hate each others guts, can't stand to look at each other, but you always have to be polite. At the end of the day you need to at least keep your dignity and have some manners and style about yourself, no matter what happened. This fool has none

KEITH OLBERMANN AND WHITE WOMAN TWAT

2008-01-24T20:41:00.000-08:00

This is a diary I wrote on dkos, the ultra white blog, and got banned for, lol. Now, you know, I don't care a rat's ass for that! Some of those people acted as if I had killed Keith Olbermann and needed to be jailed. Keith may not have any say in what goes on, but who knows, maybe some o his interns read my piece and made the suggestion that they tone it down. And surely my little piece is not the first, best, or even last that will be done on the mighty god Olbermann. Actually, it's probably the worst thing I've ever written, but only because I was being highly facetious, which the Kosacks seemed to have missed. Anyways, enjoy!

Brittney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsy Lohan, Winehouse, and any other young white woman, night after night, their twats are plastered across the screen during Countdown, with Keith Olbermann. He's even talked about Brittney's unclothed twat. Apparently there are times when she doesn't cover her twat. On a show that offers so much I just don't understand why he has this fascination with the twats of these mostly young white women. What is up with that? Olbermann's Countdown has become an oasis in a sea of mediocre news programs, but his focus on so many down and out young white women and their twats has become a huge annoyance.

I have yet to figure out why he follows them at all, even as an entertainment segment, all that twat is not worth it. Surely he can find something else to focus on? Perhaps the twizzlers of George or Denzel? Damn, I'd be willing to watch anything they twizzle, anything but white female twat. Does Keith have a lady friend? Is he in between and that's why he talks about all those young white women and their anatomy, or is it just some kind of kinky turn on? And while we're at it, what's up with the David Vitter story? Why did he sit on that thing, when really, it was part of the funniest of the republican sex scandals, and yet he whined about the way in which the story was done when he was gone. What's up with that? You would have thought he would have taken off with that story, but all he could do was give some lame apology for making news out of it.

I have to admit that for the most part the only reason I stay with the show is the worst persons in the world segment. You have an excellent show Keith, but if I could, may I make some suggestions? We're really tired of all those stories about all those young white women and whatever is going on in their lives. Each network has an entertainment show on weeknights, and for the most part those of us who watch you don't watch them, I know I don't. Isn't there some positive entertainment news you can do, or even just some other segments? I don't really care for all those white women and their twats, and besides, I can catch worst persons on crooks and liars, or just try to find something else to watch, which I guess is what I should do anyway. Maybe you could just show the twat patrol once a week? Or give us some more twizzlers, I hear Colin Ferell(?) has a big one, lol. I'm an equal opportunity kind of gal, so showing some of those hot male bods appeals to me.

SOMETHING FOR HILLARY HATERS TO CHEW ON

2008-01-20T20:06:00.000-08:00

You know, as much as I am against Obama, what I really should say is this; I can understand deeply why black Americans would finally want to vote for one of their own. He's well educated, well spoken, charismatic, and that's all well and good. Growing up, watching the movement, and later participating in my own way, I feel I know what's needed, and it's not Barack Obama at this stage of the game. Hope was yesterday. Hope was answered by Dr. King, Sister Rosa Parks, Mrs. King, the freedom marchers, those who were murdered, and those who's murders go unprosecuted, those who braved water hoses, vicious dogs, and hate filled people. No, I don't need hope. I need someone who will fulfill the promises left behind when Dr. King was killed. I want someone who's going to come to town and undo the vast amount of damage, and yet again hate, left by the current administration. I want someone who will come in, boots to the ground, ready to wade into the mess wrought by eight long years of sheer ignorance, and an economy about to crumble into shambles. I want someone to restore my country to the dignity and greatness it once had amongst the other nations of the world.

Of Obama I would have liked to have seen him gain more experience than he had, especially in the world of foreign policy. A little more seasoning is all he needed. Instead, he let himself by swayed by racial politics, the racial politics of whites, who finally didn't have to look at a black face and feel guilty by what they saw in the face of black men and women. William Bennett told us that, he no longer would have to look at blacks, whom he despises for not being slaves and not overcoming the racial hatred of over four hundred years. Bastard. I understand perfectly the hatred of Bill Clinton. If any of you will just take your heads out of Obama's butt, you will see that under his presidency this country enjoyed the most growth than it ever has, and also spurred on some of the tech gains we have now. Did he not leave Bushco. a clear message that Ben Laden needed to be taken down? But why should they when Ben Laden was a friend to Bushco? Did he not leave this country with a surplus of money, and not incredible deficit we may never recover from? Our country is down the crapper and we need someone to handle our business, as it were, and at this time I just don't think Obama is the one to handle it.

As a black woman, I don't consider anyone who doesn't vote for Obama as racist or a race traitor. Here, in Maryland, we just went through that terrible Bob Ehrlich era, and when Michael Steele decided to run they all thought blacks would cross lines to vote for the mutt. Blackness doesn't give you some kind of special cache that says blacks must support you, and we can and will chose candidates according to our needs, the same as whites. The one thing whites and the media needs to do is to stop thinking of blacks as children or childlike, with the inability to think for themselves. Just because we don't make the choices you think we should doesn't mean we aren't capable. We make our choices just the way you do, with care, thought, and study, which is what many of you need to do. You need to study your hatred of Hillary Clinton, and examine exactly why you feel this way. Most of the hatred directed at her comes from the neocon media moguls who's only interest is their own. Realize that when we have times like this, an economic downturn it is they who reap the rewards, not you. They get to hire cheaper labor, provide cheaper benefits packages, bust unions who help broker better wages and benefits packages. They also love that other brown cheap labor from across the border which helps bring down our economy. I'm sure that there are quite a few other reasons the necons hate the Clintons, all of them having to do with money, and they do nothing but spend their time on the likes of Fox Noise, Chris Mathews and anyone else they can get to pound on Hillary in a hate filled vicious and ugly manner.

I'm not trying to tell anyone who to vote for, and it would never occur to me to do so, but I also won't let anyone tell me who to vote for, and whether or not my not voting for a black man is racist. That is not a proper reason to vote for anyone, no matter what. So, what you really need to do is examine your own hatreds and biases, to see where you need really need to place your vote. There are so many other things to consider as well, but for me, most of it boils down to experience and strength of will and character, which I find still lacking in Obama. Hillary Clinton has been forged by the necon hatred and the hatred they fan in you, so along with her own experiences this should be enough to pull us through, don't you think?

I posted this on dailyKos just because I love to tease at those white folks over there, lol.

ON BEING THE GOOD NEGRO

2008-01-04T18:05:00.000-08:00

The farmer in Iowa gushed, saying that he had never heard a speech like it, that it was a rousing, moving speech. They have promoted him relentlessly over the past year, almost like a savior or the second coming. They are now using his "persona", what it is that they perceive it to be, to whip one candidate with it. William Bennett, the pundits pundit, has come out with a glowing account of why he thinks this man is one who is running on the right stuff.

Born in 1961, he wasn't old enough to participate in the civil rights movement. He doesn't have the angst that so many of us had growing up during that time, knowing that as black Americans we were the most hated people on earth. He didn't grow up with Jim Crow, segregated towns, cities, schools and the like. Growing up in the 1970's he would never feel the kind of racism this country reserved only for blacks, and was not even living in this country during the height of civil rights movement. By the time he arrived here it was all but over so it's imprint is not even on him. He does not have the anger black men in the country once had due to the horrific practices of racism, he doesn't know how it seared the soul, how whites kept their feet on the necks of blacks to keep them down and out. Barack Obama was not even in the country when Dr. King was assassinated.

They are saying that he is not like Rev. Jesse Jackson or Rev. Al Sharpton. Jackson was prominent during the civil rights movement, during and after Dr. King's death, has run organizations of his own for the advancement of race relations in this country, and has been forever in the face of whites for their treatment of blacks. Still is. Then there is Al Sharpton, he of Tawana Brawley fame. Rev. Al has become known as the ambulance chaser of the civil rights movement, as it were, but still, a great many in the black community have come to respect him. Iit was he, who had dinner with the great white Bill O'Rielly, who then declared that he was so shocked and surprised that everyone dined like they had good sense, with no one calling m'fer I want more tea. Both of these men campaigned to be president of this country, and both men continue to lend their time and talents to the modern day civil rights movement. Both are black, and that is where the difference comes in.

William Bennett says "Barack Hussiene Obama has taught the black community that you don't have to act like Jesse Jackson...Al Sharpton." Many in the republican party praise him, possibly a great many have crossed party lines in Iowa to vote for him. Why? Essentially because Barack Obama represents the "good Negro", more like what main stream whites wish most blacks were like. There are still millions of whites in this country who remember the precivil rights movement in this country, who remember the atmosphere of time when this country presented an Andy Griffith like quality, before blacks wanted anything, or were even a visible force. Blacks remained in the background and "knew their place", which was nowhere and subservient to whites. They didn't want anything, didn't ask for anything and were a happy go lucky people. Until Ms. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and Dr. King showed up.

Basically, what whites are saying is that with his history, his parentage, his looks and his education, Barack Obama doesn't remind them of the past, with it's racist bigotry, or it's present, with it's hidden racist bigotry. He doesn't make them feel uncomfortable the way Jesse would have, or Al, he doesn't call them to task for all the thins left undone, segregated housing, bad schools, no way into college for the young without affirmative action, bad health care, job descrimination. He is not black. His skin color is not in the face of whites, doesn't make them think of his darker skinned brothers and sisters, on whose faces anger, even hatred, make them feel guilt when they look at him, because they know he doesn't share a black history. Many of them probably even know facts I've stated here, that he wasn't even in the country during the height of the civil rights movement, which makes him even more perfect in their eyes. He has even managed to attain the kind of education most blacks here in this country still struggle to attain. In other words, he is the perfect black non black man, one with virtually none of the authentic black history that some of us still carry.

The republican machine loves Obama so much that they have stopped talking about him. Why? Because they would really prefer that he were the democratic nominee and not Edwards and most definitely Hillary Clinton, who they think is unbeatable. If he were to become the nominee they figure they can beat the living hell out of him. If he were to go on to become president they think they can control him. He wants to sit down to a table where he has very little foreign policy experience, except his vote on the war, or rather against it. Keeping your enemy close is one thing, but you still have to know that they are the enemy and always will be. Those people want power and the fact that their own extremely bad mistakes in world affairs has not diminished[ this. They still see their business as unfinished, and by hook or by crook, they have proven that they will try everything within their grasp to retain that power. Including making a puppet out of Barack Obama.

Yes, Obama represents to most white Americans what they all wish to see in all of us as black people, the good Negro. The good Negro, who leaves his past behind even though whites do not, who don't question white authority, but wait patiently for any little crumb whites will give us, when they want to give it to us, and in what quantity and quality. They figure that with the passage of all and any civil rights legislation of old that all our problems are solved, all our legal needs are taken care of, and we should not be agitating as in days of old for anything. We need to stop following Jesse and Al, and listen to that good Negro, Barack, with no history of the old civil rights movement, no thoughts of reminding whites that while the movement died when they killed Dr. King, there is still a deep and vast racial divide in the country, being continually fostered by them.

If nominated as the democratic presidential hope, Barack Obama will get my vote, but it will be a hostage vote, as it were. I will give him my vote because I don't believe in an anti vote, not voting in protest. Because I'm black I must vote as long as I have the breath to do so. If there is a vote while I'm on my death bed then I will do my damnedest to lift my hand and vote. People died in the country to assure that I could exercise that right, and to do less would fail them. So, Obama will get my vote only for being the nominee and there's no other way I can help it. My own belief is that Mr. Obama needed just a tad more experience for me, especially where foreign policy is concerned, even though he runs a committee on foreign policy! That was all I wanted, and I think that's all any other black folks want. The experience. But my other fear is that without that civil rights background Barack Obama will become nothing more than the good Negro, and believe me, white folks will let him know, in no uncertain terms.

The above has been published in my dkos diary just to make 'em holler, lol.

I'M PEEVED!

2007-12-30T18:52:00.000-08:00

OK. So I'm pissed. That's really what I mean to say. Pissed. Why do black folks always talk about supporting our own then do nothing? What's up with that? It's almost six months now that I've been blogging away, all because I had read and heard some things about dkos, (that's daily Kos for you who don't know). Daily Kos, by Markos Moulitsos, is possibly one of the biggest and best known blogs going. I think they had their second conference this past summer, and it was well attended. It draws so many people because it is a left wing blog, which means there's some place for place for democrats to go. Not me. I'm afraid I'm an anarchist, which they did accuse me of being, lol. dkos is a mainly white domain, and those who attended the conference where mainly white. The conference actually caused something of a stir because only a handful of blacks attended. I have no problem with that, except that a well known blog such as dkos, or any of the main stream blogs like it, will tend to shut out blacks and any other person of color. And still think that black owe an allegiance to white candidates, and that's where I have a problem.

That's when I got curious. I wondered if there were any black voices on the web, blogging black voices. There was one that I had known about for a number of years, and that was Steve Gilliard of the News Blog, who passed away last summer, may he rest in peace. So of course I used good old Google and went searching for those other voices and I found them, plenty of them, excellent, wonderful voices, many of them involved in some monumental undertakings, most working to change the world around them. I visited these blogs and read and read, so glad to see that there some wonderful black voices out there, some wonderful brothers and sisters blogging, lending their voices to the world. Some bloggers are even doing web podcasts and have been featured in other forums. There's a black web blog award and there's even going to be a conference in Atlanta next summer.

It's all good, it really is, but. After finding all these great and wonderful voices, posting and responding to their excellent writing, I began to get discouraged. Not in my own posting, you understand, but in theirs. Now, at this point I have to admit that in general, I suppose I don't know anything about blogging etiquette as it were, you know, what the rules are. I thought that if you posted in response on someone else's blog, then they just might come and visit you. Not that they necessarily have to, but they might. I also got the feeling that they wanted to build a coalition of African American bloggers, of voices united, though to a great extent this was accomplished. It was black bloggers who organized the march on Jena, for the kids who were getting a raw deal there. Many kept nooses out there in the fore front of the news. The voices can get out there and move the people when needed.

So. How do you build a coalition of united voices if you don't go to read the blogs of others? How do you know what others are thinking and doing if you don't go to read the blogs of others, don't seek out other voices? How do you encourage others if you don't visit their blogs, let them know that somebody out there had found them? That they should keep on adding their voices to the bloggosphere? Yes, I do know that many of keep on blogging because they have something to say and because they need to, I'm one of them.

That being said, I'm really sorry that I won't be able to attend the conference in Atlanta next summer. I can't imagine what it be like surrounded by so many wonderful voices you only read on the nets. Meeting some of these brothers and sisters face to face. I can only hope that it will be as well attended as the one of dkos, though if there's going to be some barbque there you know black folks will be there too. More black voices are needed out there in the world as well as the bloggosphere where so many people tend to live these days. We all need more and better ways to communicate amongst each other, learn from each other and share our experiences because we're really on the edge of something new if we just get it together.

On that note I hope to do better myself and get my blog roll up and running so that I can hit those blogs every time I log into blogger. I and I promise a certain someone to do better about my communications, lol. Then I will make the effort to visit those on the roll once a week and say something, let them know I was there. Then no one will be able to scream that a black person didn't support them because I did.

MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

2007-12-25T12:29:00.000-08:00

I often wonder how America, which has become one of the greatest nations on earth, sends some of its' children to bed hungry every night. How does this happen, when the stores are stocked full of all the finest foods anywhere to be found, and yet a mother cannot place that bounty and goodness on her table for her children to eat for lack of the kindness this nation claims to have? The sad fact is that too many Americans hate the poor, ignore the hunger and want that go on in this country, while rushing to the aid of other countries. Not that they shouldn't, but home first. When no child is without a meal to be had here in this country, then pay attention to others. Stop running over seas, to other countries, where they have an "excuse", that of war, famine and drought, to be needy, while you think that here in this rich nation, everyone should be working, taking care of their reproductive health, not having babies they can't feed and house, while turning a blind eye to the rampant racism and neglect that goes on here. There is no reason there should hunger and want in America, except for the hunger and want in our souls. I am not a rich person by any stretch of the imagination, but it just struck me that I can donate some few dollars at the grocery store where we shop to help feed the hungry.

My New Year's resolution has nothing to do with the ton of weight I need to lose, but it's to contribute every time my sis and I go to the grocery store to make our purchases, to donate what few dollars I can so that others might eat. I wish that everyone would think about this whenever they go grocery shopping; stop and donate what you can, even if just a dollar, each time you go. Or find an organization which feeds children and donate to it. Start a change jar and put no pennies in it, just silver and dollar bills, save it for a month, then donate it to a food bank and start another. Sometimes work places force their employees to pledge donations to United Way. Stop that and organize a monthly fund for the local food banks and donate to them instead. Have charity at home before you give away from home as there is plenty here to be done.

Thank you Marian Wright Edelman for all your years of service, bless you and yours on this Christmas day.

RING AROUND THE ROSES A POCKET FULL OF HATRED

2007-12-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

MY HATRED; LET ME SHOW YOU IT.

Vladimir Putin. TIME magazine's person of the year. You know this choice is so full of hate and venom and we all know it. This choice isn't so much about Putin as it is about Al Gore, and not nominating him at all because of rightwing hatred and vitriol. Ain't it sad?

BLACK LIKE ME; OR SOL!

2007-12-17T16:36:00.000-08:00

Now tell me this ain't a scream out loud with laughter! Somebody ought to tell white folks that God don't like ugly, lmfbao!

Revealed: scientist who sparked racism row has black genes
by Robert Veraik

Published: 10 December 2007

A Nobel Prize-winning scientist who provoked a public outcry by claiming black Africans were less intelligent than whites has a DNA profile with up to 16 times more genes of black origin than the average white European.

An analysis of the genome of James Watson showed that 16 per cent of his genes were likely to have come from a black ancestor of African descent. By contrast, most people of European descent would have no more than 1 per cent.

"This level is what you would expect in someone who had a great-grandparent who was African," said Kari Stefansson of deCODE Genetics, whose company carried out the analysis. "It was very surprising to get this result for Jim."

The findings were made available after Dr Watson became only the second person to publish his fully sequenced genome online earlier this year. Dr Watson was forced to resign his post as head of a research laboratory in New York shortly after triggering an international furore by questioning the comparative intelligence of Africans. In an interview during his recent British book tour, the American scientist said he was "inherently gloomy about the prospects for Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really".

The Science Museum in London cancelled a lecture by him, while the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, branded his comments "racist propaganda".

Other scientists working in the field of molecular biology quickly distanced themselves from the comments, saying that it was not possible to draw such conclusions from the work that had been done on DNA.

The study of the DNA of Dr Watson – who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for medicine – adds another twist to the controversy surrounding the American scientist's comments.

In addition to the 16 per cent of his genes which were identified as likely to have come from a black ancestor of African descent, a further 9 per cent were likely to have come from an ancestor of Asian descent, the test indicated.

I had responded to an article in Slate about this very same issue and look what happens! I wonder if I should welcome him with open arms into the family, lmfbao!

THIS IS SO NOT RIGHT!

2007-11-27T19:15:00.000-08:00

Sean Taylor, #21 safety for the Redskins is dead at the age of 24. I've been a 'Skins fan for 36 years now and I've never seen anything like this. I knew that he had been in critical condition when I went to bed last night, but this morning when I turned on the tv they were posting his death and I cried. It was just too sad. It was just too soon. Rest in peace Sean, my your family be blessed.

THANKFUL TO BE BROWN

2007-11-24T16:05:00.000-08:00

i am thankful and proud
that god chose me to be
browm

i feel so honored
that when i was being
conceived he deigned
to confer chocolate
on me
and nappy hair
which has not been processed
for eleven years now

i look at my brown skin
and see its' beauty
its' color
its' texture
and i am eternally grateful
to have been chosen
to represent
my people
chosen in love

i will forget
for the next couple of
months, that i am one
of the most hated things
on mother earth
that because of my beautiful
god chosen brown
people hate me
despise me
say that i am
inherently stupid
because of my brown
because they hate my brown

i will set aside thoughts
that they jail my brown brothers
hate my brown brothers
fear my brown brothers
that they will one day
be seen as equals
as capable of doing as much
if not more as any
of god's other colors
afraid they must share
god's earth with his brown creations

i will chose to do as i have always
done and celebrate the coming holidays
of the birth of my lord and savior
jesus christ
celebrate the many gifts he has bestowed
upon me such as my family and friends
the gift of life after a heart attack
of living one more year
and of having the wherewithal to get by
as we brown people say

it ain't easy being brown
for all that god's other colors
want to deny you
but i wouldn't give nothing
for my journey now
wouldn't take nothing for
my journey now

i pray to god
if i have to come back
this way again
please
i beg you
pray you
please
make me brown
make me cool
make me soulful
make me jazz
make me blues
make me r&b
make me soul food
candied yams
greens
ham bones and green beans
and for heaven's sake
don't forget
to make me
potato salad
make me a sistah

god made me brown
because he knew
i could endure
i could survive
as did
my brown mothers
and fathers
before me
slavery
brutality
jim crow
nigger
lynchings
cross burnings
i've seen one
at my home
no education
poor education
no rights
dr. king
civil rights
i've lived to
witness most of
it change
and not change

but still
i'm thankful
for life
and to be chosen
to be brown
it is an honor
and a privilege
i'm glad to say
i've lived

NEGRO PLEASE!

2007-11-13T17:27:00.001-08:00

- Hatewatch - http://www.splcenter.org/blog -

Rewriting History: A Black Neo-Confederate Speaks

Posted By Brentin Mock On November 8, 2007 @ 9:15 am In Neo-Confederate

Last week, African-American neo-Confederate activist H.K. Edgerton stopped by Montgomery, Ala., to commemorate the five-year anniversary of his 1,385-mile “March Through Dixie,” a fundraising trek from his home in Asheville, N.C., to Austin, Texas. He was dressed in a gray Confederate soldier’s uniform and hoisted a large Confederate flag, mounted on a pole, over his right shoulder. While visiting Montgomery, Edgerton — an extremely rare black face in the overwhelmingly white neo-Confederate movement — granted Hatewatch an interview in which he detailed his unique perspectives on the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan, and race relations in the antebellum and postwar South. Here are just a few of his more interesting assertions:

• Before the slaves were freed, “Black folks and white folks were family,” he said. “We did all kinds of things together here. White people and slaves saw each other on the streets and they tipped their hats to each other … and asked each other about their families.”
• “The War Between the States is not over. This thing is real!”
• “I don’t see [the Ku Klux Klan] as terrorists. I see them as — I hate to use the word ‘vigilante,’ but vigilante sometimes ain’t as bad as you think. When your government fails you and fails to protect you, you have to turn somewhere.”
• The KKK was “just protecting the people — all of the people, black and white. Blacks wanted to be a part of that.”
• “Why would a man tell my babies [that] walking into a classroom with a Confederate flag on [their clothing] that [that is] demonic, evil and offensive? Black folks in the South been living with that flag all our lives.”
• “It wasn’t so much about [then-Alabama Gov.] George Wallace going to the schoolhouse doors, saying, ‘No, you can’t integrate.’ The thought in his mind was, ‘No, you can’t tell me to integrate. Let us deal with this, and we’re gonna deal with it.’”
• Slaves “were given a new pair of pants and a new pair of shoes every day, and he thinks this white man was cruel! [Black slaves] had the same medical facilities that the white man had. … You look at most of the slave pictures … they are not raggedy and torn. They lived better than most! … Most of them looked better than most of the white folks around and lived better than most of the free world!”

Edgerton also defended what he said was the constitutional right of white supremacists to display hangman’s nooses and addressed what he called “rumors” of dissension between himself and his neo-Confederate allies — the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Southern Legal Resource Center (SLRC), and SLRC head Kirk Lyons. ([1] Lyons had been one of Edgerton’s odder bedfellows of recent years — Lyons spent most of his career as a lawyer defending white supremacists, and was married on the grounds of the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations by its late leader in a ceremony in which infamous Klan leader Louis Beam was the best man. Despite that, until recently, Lyons regularly depicted Edgerton, who is the former head of the Asheville NAACP, as his good friend.)

Earlier this year, Lyons seemed to be disassociating himself from Edgerton when he wrote, “The SLRC is not and has not been involved in any of H.K.’s travel or appearances for some time.” But Edgerton claimed he is still chairman emeritus of the SLRC’s board of advisers and insisted that there “never” was any dissension.

In fact, Lyons is just “a misunderstood man” Edgerton said. “If every bigot in America was Kirk Lyons, we’d never have another bigotry problem, ever.”

When the interview concluded, Edgerton walked to a 2005 champagne-colored Cadillac DeVille and popped the trunk, revealing a wealth of Confederate flags, stickers and pamphlets.

Last March, Sons of Confederate Veterans activist Elijah Coleman [2] accused Edgerton of the unauthorized sale and use of SCV-issued Confederate battle flags as well as demanding large amounts of money to buy a new car.

Edgerton said the Cadillac belonged to his sister.

Is this crazy or what? Just when you think you've seen everything, and this fool Negro had not roots in slavery, except his ancestors, so how does he know that things were as he says they were? Dang. Is that why they hate your black ass now, because things are not as they used to be?

KANYE'S MOM PASSES

2007-11-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

Donda West, mother of Kanye West, passed away today due to complications from surgery. Ms. West was just 58 years of age, and was quite accomplished during her life time. My sympathy goes out to Kanye on his loss, and may his mother rest in peace.

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: KING MAKING 101

2007-11-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

I am not now, nor have I ever been an Obama supporter. It has nothing to do with race, at least not for me, but for whites, his blackness is what draws them. Why? Because he is not a black man who grew up in the civil rights era and so has no connection to it or the era of angry black men and women determined to drag this country kicking and screaming into the twentieth century. Barack Obama has nothing to do with the atmosphere of poisonous racial hatred and tensions that shaped and impinged on a generation of blacks who grew up with segregation, Jim Crow laws and lynchings. He might not have even been in the country at that time, so in essence, Sen. Obama is untainted as it were by those views, and so can enjoy the cache bestowed upon him by whites. It doesn't hurt either that his black father was not African American, who might have been shaped by that era. You see, whites don't want our blackness, our history continually thrust in their faces. Which is funny since one of the questions about Obama in the beginning was his blackness. Now it is ours, and the fact that we may be too black as voters, unwilling to give our tacit approval to Obama the presidential candidate.

Arianna Huffington of Huffington Post is what has me in a snit today. One thing to remember about Huffington is the fact that she is a former republican turned democrat. If there is such a thing. You see Arianna was formerly married to the very much gay Michael Huffington, an admitted bi-sexual and former representative from California, who sank Arianna's own dreams of becoming queen of America. She is trumpeting Obama all the way and it shows. I don't have a problem with who these people promote, but I do have a problem with their holier than thou attitude and their Kool Aid drinking ways. Actually, I don't think Huffington, in her snarkiness has drunk the Kool Aid, she just uses it to her advantage, knowing full well that for whatever reason, most people haven't thought out for themselves their views on Clinton, they just acceptingly drink the Kool Aid from the picture of those who hated on Bill Clinton, all republicans, and who spent the whole of his administration trying to derail his presidency, making a mockery of this country in doing so, all the while with stinking, unwashed laundry in their own moral closets.

I drank the Kool Aid too. No, I wasn't anywhere near as hateful as most of the country is, I had just decided I didn't like Clinton. Then I began to examine why. I believed most of the things said about her, to a certain degree. It wasn't with that boiling over hatred of everyone else, but nevertheless, it was there. Was Hillary Clinton cold and calculating? No more so than me. I mean, to get the things in life that you want, even as a woman, you have to be don't you? If not then how do you get to where she's gotten, on your back? I don't think so. She has no human warmth. She's a mother with a daughter who seems to have turned out fine, so where did they get that from? She seems warm enough to me in her dealings with the people around her. In contrast look at Laura Bush and those Bush twins. Were they what people would categorize as a couple of sluttish, sleazy tramps? Did Bush ever reign those girls in to act like young women who were representing their country and the White House? Hell naw, she let them have their sluttish ways all over the globe, male reporters following and salivating all over them, wondering when they could get some. Damn. In spite of what went down in the Monica Lewinsky affair, the Clintons have managed to remain married for thirty-five years. Contrast that with Huffington, Gingrich, Vitter, Craig, and quite a few other republicans and their peccadilloes, just look that crap up. The stuff that Gingrich did would make you sick by comparison with the Clintons.

Obama wasn't black enough.
Edwards became the Breck Girl.
Clinton was cold and unfeeling.
Chinese clapping.

All of this according to who? The press? Detractors? You? Me? This is my theory on blackness; whoever showed up is what you are. Brown in color, kinky of hair? You're black. Tiger Woods? He black. Barack Obama? He black too, lol. Halle Berry? She black. Who can really let you know if you're black? Whites and all other non black races, especially when they get good and ready. Just ask Woods. John Edwards is a wealthy white man running for president. I don't resent the mans' wealth in the face of my own circumstances. Dang, I'm desperate for a new car. If it weren't for a wonderful, loving brother, I don't know where I'd be. He's kept Patches on the road for years now, and being disabled this counts double. I need that car. But do I hate Edwards and his family for having what I don't? No. It's as simple as that. God has given me what I need and will continue to do so. Where did the Breck Girl image start? With some unknown republican source, inventing a smear. It didn't help that Edwards paid for hair cuts and makeup for shoots from his campaign funds, which was the start of the whole thing, but to me this was minor, no biggie. His mistake for me was in stating that Hillary made misstatements within in two minutes on the issue of licenses for illegal aliens. She did not. But of course that was the talk of the town last week after the debates. By who's standards? The press? Right wingers? Yours? Mines? Then there's Chinese clapping. At this time the source of this Chinese clapping seems to come from Chris Tweety Mathews, who spent the week asking why Clinton was clapping at everybody as if she were Chinese. How do they dream these things up? Just sitting around a table talking? I guess so, but really, come on, this was so asinine.

If it's out there it's on the nets and it can be tracked down. I don't have the resources of the msm, (mainstream media), but you can always look things up on the web, always make the attempt to track them down. I do. I refuse to drink that beverage served up with lies, innuendos, gossip, some else's half formed opinions, and whatever else garbage they decide to add to it. It's like GHB, it clouds your mind, keeps you from freely thinking on your own, stops the flow of proper discourse. So I make every effort to do my own fact checking now, before believing some else's. As for Arianna Huffington, don't believe her hype either, she's in love. I believe that girl is happy now with her current headlines concerning Clinton.

The nets, a wonderful thing invented by Al Gore.

REDUCED TO SMALL SCREEN, NEEDS TO GO LARGE

2007-11-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

Below is my response to an article in the washpo which concerned racism in this country, and how so many of the issues get their 15 minutes of fame, then shoved on for the next issue, while the real deal of racism in this country is never really discussed.

I don't know what those episodes are, but they are not a part of the greater discussion that isn't going on. Racism is deep and it is underground in this country, no matter what anyone thinks, from the segregation of the neighborhoods in this country, to the racism in our schools that sets our children up for failure, to the encouragement of the welfare state that has virtually destroyed black family life. Racism in this country is no longer discussed because whites think that blacks in this country have everything they need or are going to get while all the long discriminating. Liberals are just as bad as conservatives. They may espouse views condemning racism, but they, too, live in segregated neighborhoods, with their segregated schools, or kids in private schools, just as much as the black hating conservatives. Until whites can either look at racism in the forms in which it now exist, or get over the fact that it's more underground than they know, then we cannot possibly have a conversation about racism. In order for us to move forward in this country whites will have to face the fact that the race card is still be played in this country against blacks. Need proof? Just look at immigration and illegals. For generations whites have used education along with low wages and racism to keep blacks out of the skilled crafts jobs held by white men and passed on to their sons until their grandsons began to go on to college to escape hard labor. Blacks, already locked out of those jobs due to racism were further locked out - due to racism. Only now another group of people is being used against them; illegal immigrants. These people accept low wages, no benefits, and bring down the wages of everyone else in doing so. Employers who hire them do not want to hire and train low income blacks and whites who so desperately need the skills and the work. Believe me, this isn't all as I can tell you from my own personal experiences with whites and discrimination. Check out how many blacks consider themselves to have been discriminated against in looking for work or in their current employment. How many young black male children are shuffled off into those low achieving classes when there is nothing wrong with them? They are worth next to nothing when they come out, poor babies. The educational system, instead of trying to figure out how best to serve black children does nothing more than warehouse them in under achieving classes, dumbing down our children. Believe me, these things are nothing to the discussion which really needs to happen in this country. We gained our rights, only to have them deviously subverted and no one wants to talk about it. Why should I, as a black person, wish to talk about illegal immigrants in this country? Just another group of people to discriminate against me as they already have. And let's not forget about reparations. This country had paid every group going, even some it shouldn't have, except African Americans, monies that could go a long way to easing some of the ills we face in this country. Where should the conversation begin, education? Jobs? Housing? Reparations? All of the above, of course, but I won't hold my breath. I do agree with the last statements in this article. Blacks don't need to be victims anymore, but it takes a great effort to out and snatch what is rightfully yours, take it from the hands of whites. The mental effort to do so on a daily basis is almost killing. I'm actually not even sure whether or not any of these small potatoes ought to be punished, really. Except Imus, who had such a huge following. They don't really make a dent in what needs to be done, and besides, we know they're out there, lurking. I grew up with the Dogs of the world, I know who they are. No, our discussions need to be more finite than this, but there is a problem. Those who are white must not only listen, they must hear. Then they must do something to begin to help correct the mess that underground racism has created, so that we can all move forward.

BOW WOW WOW YIPPY YO YIPPY YAY!

2007-11-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

Why must I be like that why must I call black folks niggers? Must be the dog in me! No surprise here, let me tell you. I've had to deal with racism in some facet of my life for years now and nothing people of other races say can surprise me. I'm not going to say a whole lot about Duane Chapman because so many others have already said anything I might have said, but I think dirty red said it best at A Black Man's View. As I can tell you, this is one reason we worked so hard all those years ago to erase nigger from the vocabulary of all folks, and as one blogger said, Dog's mistake shows why best of all.

JAZZY'S BOO HOO HOOS OF THE DAY

2007-11-07T11:55:00.000-08:00

This wonderful brother, slip slop artist TI wants to be allowed more visitors in his house for Thanksgiving. For this reason, I say HELL NAW, BOYFRIEND, YOUR BUTT NEEDS TO BE IN DA HOUSE! Apparently you need to be off the streets for the arsenal you were trying to purchase.

Rapper T.I. wants judge to allow Thanksgiving gathering

By SAEED AHMED
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/06/07

Stuck inside your house, day in and day out, with nothing to do and no one but your wife and children to keep you company will make any man restless.

A jet-setting superstar who's being forced to play stay-at-home dad is no exception.

Atlanta rapper T.I., who's under house arrest awaiting trial on federal weapons charges, is asking a judge to let him host a Thanksgiving Day dinner at his Jonesboro home.

In a motion filed in federal court Tuesday, T.I — who was born Clifford Harris Jr. — requested that the judge waive the no-more-than-three visitors-at-a-time provision of his $3 million bond.

Harris, 27, wants the exception only for Turkey Day, only between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., and only for a group of visitors whose names he submitted for approval.

In another motion Tuesday, Harris also asked the judge to allow access for workers who can come clean his yard, pool and home.

Harris was arrested Oct. 13 in a Midtown parking lot as he allegedly tried to illegally buy three machine guns and two silencers.

Among the strict bond conditions that U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Baverman set, Harris can continue to live with his girlfriend and his children. However, visitors are limited to three at a time between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., and have to be cleared with a criminal background check.

Harris' movements are monitored by a GPS system. And at least one guard lives on his property at all times, said Steve Sadow, one of three lawyers representing Harris.

If the judge grants his request, Harris will pay for additional guards for the celebration, according to the motion.

He can serve sweet tea, but his bond conditions forbid him from consuming alcohol.

Dwight Thomas, another lawyer for Harris, said he could not discuss the particulars of the motion, such as how many family members Harris was expecting.

Thomas said Harris was coping well as a prisoner in his home.

"He's doing fine. He's very upbeat," Thomas said. "He's looking forward to his day in court."

Until then, fans who want to catch a glimpse of the Atlanta rapper can catch him in the movie "American Gangster."

Among his handful of scenes is one where Harris is sitting alongside his drug overlord uncle, played by actor Denzel Washington, enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner.

Yo Clifford, sit your nappy butt down and enjoy your time out of jail, cause you need it.

JUNKET HERE, JUNKET THERE, JUNKET, JUNKET EVERYWHERE

2007-11-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

Now mind you, this is the woman who just refused to take more money alloted by congress the better to do her job, and yet she can spend money from businesses she might have to regulate to junket around the world.

Industries Paid for Top Regulators' Travel
Two Heads of Product Safety Agency Accepted Trips From Manufacturer Groups

By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 2, 2007; A01

The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards.

The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency's acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Notable among the trips -- commonly described by officials as "gift travel" -- was an 11-day visit to China and Hong Kong in 2004 by Stratton, then chairman. The $11,000 trip was paid for by the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, an industry group based in an office suite in Bethesda whose only laboratories are in Asia.

The CPSC says that at the time, the group had no pending regulatory requests. But since then the fireworks group has urged the commission to adopt its safety standards, an idea that is still pending, according to an organization newsletter.

Consumer groups and lawmakers intensified their criticism of the CPSC this summer after several highly publicized recalls of Chinese-made toys that contained hazardous levels of lead. Critics have long charged that the agency has become too close to regulated industries, opting for "voluntary" standards and repeatedly choosing not to take legal action against businesses that refuse to recall dangerous products.

Government-wide travel regulations state that officials from agencies such as the CPSC should not accept money for travel from nonfederal sources if the payments "would cause a reasonable person . . . to question the integrity of agency programs or operations."

But CPSC officials defend the industry-paid trips as a way for the agency to be in contact with manufacturing officials and hear their concerns despite a limited travel budget. Commission spokeswoman Julie Vallese said the agency's counsel and its ethics officers conducted "a full conflict-of-interest analysis" of the trips and stand behind their decisions.

"The mission of the agency and the benefits to consumer safety are two factors that are taken into consideration in approving gift travel," she said. Reports of the trips are submitted to the Office of Government Ethics, she added.

Several ethics experts and lawyers say the two administrators' travel records, some of which they reviewed at the request of The Post, suggest a conflict of interest.

"This is a blatant violation of the ethics code," said Craig Holman, an expert on governmental ethics law for the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. The rules allow nonfederal sources to pay for trips, "but not if you're a private party with business pending before the agency," he said.

The agency's travel patterns during the Bush administration, detailed in internal agency documents, differ from those of the Clinton era. Ann Brown, who served as chairman from 1994 to 2001, traveled only at the expense of the agency or of media organizations that sponsored appearances where she announced product recalls, according to the documents provided.

"We hated to have an industry pay for our staff for anything," said Pam Gilbert, a lawyer who was executive director of the agency under Brown.

The records show that Nord and Stratton repeatedly accepted gift travel for events from industries subject to CPSC enforcement. In February 2006, the Toy Industry Association provided Nord with rail fare, two nights in a hotel, meals -- and even $51 to pay her Union Station parking bill -- to attend the American International Toy Fair in New York, one of the industry's biggest product exhibitions.

Joan Lawrence, the association's vice president who oversees toy safety, said that "I have heard some enforcement officials say that they consider attending vital" because "they are able to see new products before they hit retail shelves" and suggest safety improvements. She added that "approximately 50 percent of the CPSC budget is used for children's products."

But Lawrence could not say why, given the importance of the event and the industry, the agency did not pay for its own travel. "If they came up with the money, that's okay," she said. "The educational component, of course, is our priority, and that's why we pay for the chairman."

Vallese, the CPSC spokeswoman, said Nord gave two speeches at the meeting, toured "new toy exhibits," watched "product demonstrations" and participated in "product safety discussions."

In a presentation to a trade group of product regulators and manufacturers last year, Nord said the agency was "working aggressively" to limit deaths from residential fires and carbon monoxide poisoning, according to an account published on the group's Web site. She noted that "fuel-fired heating equipment" is linked to more than 300 deaths a year.

Makers of that equipment are represented by the Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association, for which Stratton, Nord's predecessor, was a guest speaker at two annual meetings. In 2003 Stratton spoke at the group's meeting on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. In 2005, he spoke at its annual meeting in Orlando.

The meetings drew more than 300 manufacturers' representatives and spouses for seminars, a dinner dance and golf. While the association's manufacturers are regulated by three other government agencies, its vice president, Joseph Mattingly, said he could not recall paying for any attendees from those agencies.

Stratton said: "My view was we needed to engage industries and not only tell them what we expected but also to learn what they were thinking. . . . You can't do that sitting in the ivory tower at the CPSC."

The records also detail several trips that were paid for by lawyers who represent manufacturers in product liability lawsuits.

In February, for example, Nord accepted more than $2,000 in travel and accommodations from the Defense Research Institute to attend its meeting in New Orleans on "product litigation trends," according to her report. The institute is made up of more than 20,000 corporate defense lawyers. In 2004, Stratton attended the group's meeting in Barcelona, at a cost to the group of $915 for his hotel room.

"They are the biggest government agency that would have impact on the stuff that we do," said Steve Coronado, a former chairman of the group's product liability committee, which has 3,000 members. "They've been very cordial and accommodating and gracious," he said of the agency's past three chiefs.

Coronado said that Nord was the group's main presenter in New Orleans and that she briefed 1,000 lawyers about "what their processes and procedures are, rules and regulations changes." He added: "I don't think it was a very politically oriented presentation." A CPSC spokesman did not respond to a request for direct comment by Nord on this trip and others.

Coronado said Brown, the Clinton-era agency chairman, also spoke to the group. But agency records of her non-CPSC-financed travel do not list that trip, suggesting that it was not paid for by the lawyers group. Gilbert, the former CPSC executive director, called DRI's contribution toward Stratton's hotel bill in Spain "amazing."

Stratton said the group "wanted to know where the CPSC was going on various product issues, and they wanted to know what the companies [the lawyers represented] could expect, what the government was thinking in regard to their issues." He said lawyers who sue companies over product-related injuries never invited him to speak.

Stratton gave a general defense of his more than 25 trips, which included a trip to China that the Toy Industry Association paid $8,000 to help finance. "Everybody wants to see the chairman," he said. The fireworks group that paid for a separate China trip did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment about its contacts with the CPSC.

Some say the commission's approach to gift travel points to a Bush administration philosophy that favors engaging corporations in policymaking that affects them. "This administration apparently has taken the position that speaking and appearing before the regulated community, even where there are enforcement matters pending, does not create the appearance of a conflict," said Kenneth Gross, an ethics lawyer at Skadden, Arps.

"These are difficult and subjective lines to be drawn," he said. "Prior administrations have drawn that line in a different place."

Nord was a corporate lawyer at Eastman Kodak before her appointment. Stratton led Lawyers for Bush in his home state of New Mexico during the president's 2000 campaign and co-founded the Rio Grande Foundation, which advocates limited government and supports free-market economic principles.

The CPSC did not immediately agree to a request to review copies of internal documents related to several trips or its internal gift-travel regulations. But the records document a pattern of travel that varies from the stated habits of top officials at four other regulatory agencies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, for example, "does not accept host-paid travel reimbursements or in-kind payments from any organization regulated by the agency," said spokesman John Heine. Food and Drug Administration rules likewise do not permit outside travel payments from regulated companies, organizations "engaged in any lobbying activities" or those that receive "more than ten percent of their income from a corporate source," among other restrictions.

The Federal Communications Commission bans travel paid for by regulated companies or others with business before the agency, for officials from division heads upward, according to spokesman Clyde Ensslin.

F. Gary Davis, who helped establish the Office of Government Ethics in 1978 and served as its general counsel and deputy director until 2000, said the government-wide regulations were imposed "to ensure that there is no appearance of impropriety when you're dealing with a prohibited source." He said that it is conceivable that some of the CPSC's industry-sponsored trips were justified but that in those cases, the agency should be prepared to make its decision-making records available.

WTF!@#$%&*

2007-10-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

O.K. So now I don't need my voting rights because I'm more likely to die before completely using them?@#$%&* What the hell kind of sense does that make? Fire the fool, please.

Justice Official Apologizes for Remarks on Minorities

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 30, 2007; 11:00 AM

The head of the Justice Department's voting section apologized today for saying that racial minorities are more likely to die before becoming elderly and therefore are not hurt as much as whites by voter identification laws.

In prepared testimony for an appearance in front of a House Judiciary subcommittee this morning, John K. Tanner said his remarks earlier this month at the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles "do not in any way accurately reflect my career of devotion" to upholding federal voting rights laws.

"I want to apologize for the comments," Tanner said in his testimony. " . . . I understand that my explanation of the data came across in a hurtful way, which I deeply regret."

The apology follows a series of remarks by Tanner this month that have caused a political uproar and led to calls from some Democrats, including presidential hopeful Barack Obama, that Tanner resign or be fired.

Tanner, a 31-year career Justice Department employee, has previously come under fire for his stewardship at the voting section, including his approval of a controversial voter identification law for the state of Georgia and his handling of an investigation into alleged voting irregularities in Ohio during the 2004 elections.

At the Los Angeles conference earlier this month, Tanner said that voter identification laws primarily affect elderly people because they are less likely to have photo IDs, and are less likely to impact minorities who tend to die earlier.

"Our society is such that minorities don't become elderly the way white people do," Tanner said. "They die first . . . And so anything that disproportionately impacts the elderly has the opposite impact on minorities--just the math is such as that."

A few days earlier, Tanner also suggested to the Georgia NAACP that poor people are likely to have photo IDs because check-cashing businesses require them.

Tanner, who is white, also asked the group: "You think you get asked for ID more than I do? I've never heard anyone talk about driving while white."

The remarks prompted widespread criticism from Democrats, who said Tanner's analysis of demographic patterns was flawed and amateurish and indicated a lack of concern for minority rights. In a letter to acting Attorney General Peter D. Keisler, Obama wrote that Tanner "possesses neither the character nor the judgment" to keep his job.

In separate testimony to be delivered later today, a former voting section analyst says that Tanner's remarks about minority voters "are actually a fair example of his approach to truth, facts and the law."

"Broad generalizations, deliberate misuse of statistics, and casual supposition, in my experience, were preferred over the analytical rigor, impartiality and scrupulous attention to detail that had marked the work of the section prior to Tanner taking control in 2005," Toby Moore, a former Justice Department political geographer, said in his prepared testimony.

Today's hearing by the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is an outgrowth of an ongoing investigation by congressional Democrats into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys and allegations that the Bush administration has overtly politicized the Justice Department.

The House session also comes as Democrats in the Senate have delayed a vote on the confirmation of attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey, who raised concerns among some lawmakers by refusing to say whether a type of simulated drowning amounts to torture under U.S. laws.

WHITE LIES AND THE MEANING OF THE NOOSE

2007-10-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

I don't want to call anyone a liar. But I will. White people who claim that there are some in this country who don't understand what the noose means are liars. Try as I might, I couldn't find the article on Huffpo which convinced me of this. The gentleman stated that he lived in Jena and thought that the truth should be told. We had it all backwards. Those white youths who hung the noose from the tree didn't understand, he said, what that noose meant to black people. Liar. Those boys knew every bit of history behind the hanging of a noose. They have computers don't they? More to the point they have white male relatives, grandfathers, who were only too well aware of what a noose hanging from a tree meant. And you mean to tell me that some old men sitting around with a group of their young male relatives wouldn't tell them the story behind the noose? Might not have even shared a story or two of at least witnessing a lynching? You mean to tell me that those good ol' boys never sat around, recounting the days of when whites reigned supreme and the noose was king? You and I both know damned well that they did.

I am 53 years of age, and grew up not 20 minutes from Washington, D.C., and for all the world you would have thought it was the backwoods of Deliverance. I never really understood how southern Maryland really was until I got older. You would have thought the danged state was somewhere between Georgia and Mississippi. It was that bad. In 1965, at the age of 11 I witnessed something I will never forget. A cross burning. Have you ever seen how those things glow, horribly? It's like nothing you've ever seen. I have never seen a hanging. The pictures are enough to sear the soul. I knew what lynchings were though. I had heard all about them, understood them in all their heart wrenching hideousness. I knew they were used to keep black men in line, understanding where their "place" was.

A lynching is a thing of pure hatred. Don't believe otherwise. A noose hung from a tree, on a door, anywhere, is a symbol of hatred and control. It is a threat. It's statement is a snarled hiss of "I hate you, I hate who you are, and I am using this noose to tell you so." No one who sees a noose should ever believe otherwise, because those of us who are black know its' meaning. We know what those who leave the noose are saying. We know the hatred directed at us for whatever reason. There is no such thing as the noose is a joke. What kind of a joke? A very sick joke? Having hung the noose, knowing its' meaning, knowing what was meant when it was hung, how do you then declare, "oh, it was only a joke, a boyish prank, played by some children." Oh, really? Well black children, yes, they hung those nooses from the tree, they said I hate you, might even like to see you swinging from that noose but hey, they were only playing, why get so upset?

Should the young white boys who hung the noose from the tree charged and punished with a hate crime? Think about this; when black men where lynched no one wanted to see those who did the lynching punished, at least not other whites. Perhaps justice would have been served if those kids had been made to study the history of lynchings in this country, made to put together a packet which could then be shown throughout the school system in Louisiana, and they could also have been made to study the justice system in this country as it pertains to young black men and their incarceration rates. They should not have gone unpunished, and at the very least they should have been made to understand why their "prank" was not a "joke". At least not to black people who have seen such things.

No, the noose as a symbol is not a joke. The author of that piece knew it, and so did those young white boys in Jena, which is why they hung the noose. Why would you hang a noose and not know the meaning? And if they didn't know the meaning then surely this says that they created the same meaning as did their forefathers, doesn't it? I consider that a horrifying thought, don't you? No matter how you look at it, the noose still means hatred and death to black men.

PS:I did find this article again, and it was posted on Huffpo. Apparently, Media Myths About The Jena 6, by Craig Franklin, has been flying around the wed since it was written. Jack and Jill has an article here, taking the myth apart finely.

O.K. IT'S OFFICIAL NOW:THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS DEAD

2007-10-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

In November of 2006, the people, republicans and democrats alike, went to the poles and did what congress asked us to do. We handed them a mandate to end the war. We voted overwhelmingly to oust many republicans and replace them with democrats, to the tune of regaining congress by one. There is nothing to be said about Joe Lieberman. He is a democrat, turned independent, who is a republican in sheep's clothing. Nancy Pelosi was voted first female speaker of the house for nothing. She came in riding her white horse, assuring us that she was going to issue a stinging defeat to Notpreznitbush, and she caved. She gave into the republicans because she feared that the would paint her with their brush or hatred, she hates America, she hates the soldiers, she's soft on the war on terror. The democrats couldn't stand not to go about their business and make Notpreznitbush blink first. They had nerves, no back bone, no heroicism, they just couldn't bring themselves to do it. We waited and waited in vain, hoping that their spines would come back, but alas, no. A spine doesn't want to be yours if you can't use it properly, and most spines want to be known for standing up to anything, including presidents who were never elected.

Today it is official. The democratic party is dead. Pete Stark, rep. from California, had this to say of Notpreznitbush's veto of the schip program; "You're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement." Of course, the right jumped on him right away, crying foul, calling for him to apologize. Many of the spineless left also called for him to apologize, and for a few days he didn't. They finally got to boyfriend over the weekend, threatening him with censure. Poor baby, I guess not even knowing ho many of us approved of what he said didn't help. He, like so many others before him, couldn't stand the whinny baby crying of either party, or the vast and vicious hatred of the right. Damn. Just listening to him and that sad, pathetic apology is nauseating.

This is just too much for me. Al Gore should be finishing up his second illustrious term. Instead, he has gone on to win an Emmy, and Oscar, and now the Nobel Peace Prize, and any other award which can be heaped on the man. Our country would know peace now, and probably the prosperity of the evil Clenis, who left us with a surplus in the coffers. Imagine the amount of money that would be in there now with Gore at the helm. Our industries would not have pulled up steaks and moved to foreign countries, forcing the former workers to pack the crates for the move. Katrina would never have happened as it did. Look what's happening [to] for the victims of the San Diego fires. Instead, we have war(s), a recession looming, rampant foreclosures on sub prime rates that never should have happened, the tossing of the middle class into the lower middle class, on and on and on. Our justice system is not our justice system but the right's justice system.

Yes, the dems long national nightmare is over and they no longer have to pretend to have a spine at all, if ever they did have one. They did give it a valiant try though, I have to admit that. It took Nancy Pelosi a few weeks to turn into a bona fide Chicken Head. With Pete Stark's forced apology, it's official now. Nancy Pelosi is a Chicken Head. She swept into office of Speaker of the House and quickly turned it into a barnyard. Everybody is bucking and clucking and doing nothing at all. She promised the war would quickly be ended and here we are, about to end the year, and not the war. All she had to do was send a bill to Notpreeznitbush and let him veto it. That's all. But she couldn't even do that. Just let him veto the damned bill which would have made him look like the idiot that he is. Nooooooooooo. Nancy Chicken Head Pelosi couldn't do that. They listened to the whisperings of the republicans, got their asses kicked and handed to them again, and sat down like whipped dogs.

I don't blame Rep. Pete Stark, really I don't. I imagine that I could hold out against whatever was said to me, because really, why should I care? What could they do to me other than send me home? If I held to my principles wouldn't that be all that mattered? As for Notpreznitbush, hasn't he had enough names hurled at him that he inured to it all? Isn't he man enough to take the names even if he isn't man enough to go to war? Not man enough to not send others to war when he's never been himself? You see, nopreznitbush is a chicken, too. To chicken to go to war. A chicken hawk. Nancy's in good company. No, I don't blame Pete at all, not in the current atmosphere of democratic spinelessness. I know that many of us tried to send him a message of courage, tried to tell him that we appreciated his standing up to those schip vetoing bullies, but I guess when you have all those chickens wildly bucking and clucking at you it's hard.

It's been a long, slow, death for the democratic party. Where did it all start? With the Nixon debacle? Fueled by Carter? Cemented by Regan? Built into a true funeral pyre by Clinton? All of the above probably, but also added to that is the vicious hatred of the republican party. of course, everything about the Clintons whipped the republicans into hate of which I have never seen the likes. Their hatred led them to impeach Bill Clinton for lying about a sex act. Which all men lie about at some time in their lives. It's just that this was Bill Most Hated Man Clinton, and he had to be punished. By Ken I have no life Starr. Al Gore, now one of America's most decorated citizens, having recently won the Nobel Peace prize for his work on global warming. He, or course, would not demand a recount of the 2000 vote. And who could forget that Frenchified John Kerry? How could he compete against a man who does nothing on his ranch but clear brush? Wind surfing! What the hell kind of Frenchified sport is that? Only the French would do it! And of course, once again, there was disenfranchisement in Florida, those damned pregnant chads. The republicans only respect the sanctity of life, not the right of life to vote.

Perhaps the democratic party is only on life support, and not really dead yet. Perhaps if the dems can win the 2008 election, the party can be resuscitated, just maybe. I'll have to take a wait and see attitude, but with things the way they are, I don't hold out much hope. But I won't pull the plug just yet.

----------------
Now playing: Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five - Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens
via FoxyTunes

TALKING GIBBERISH

2007-10-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

O.K. I admit that I'm still angry and upset with what digby had to say about Cosby, and madder still that when I checked out the video it was nothing like she said, and not only that, but both he and Dr. Toussaint appeared on Ophra today, something I just happened across accidentally. At least I've calmed down enough not to write a post concerning who and what a Ms. Ann is, lol. She got lucky on that one. For now. Since this fool was still going on about gibberish, I posted again on her blog that she needed to do her research before stating that anyone was talking gibberish. Before I state anything that I've seen, heard or read, I want to make sure that I fact check what I'm saying, and while it may be her belief that Cosby was talking gibberish, he was not. I did a search and found the video of the interview on another site, and I saw nothing of the kind. I also read some of the responses to that video, and they were the usual. There were some pros and some cons for what Cosby had to say, and of course some people felt that we should not be airing our dirty laundry, which is par for the course. But not one person stated that they thought Cosby was talking gibberish.

The interview that Cosby did with Ophra is up on her site here. I watched a whole hour of Ophra and I want you to know that's saying something. I am not a fan of much of commercial television, but for that hour I actually watched. Bill Cosby did not speak gibberish. He spoke about the same subjects he has for the past six or seven years; our kids and education; their discipline; that we should know what's going on in their lives. He also had a brother and sister, who's boyfriend had shot their mother before their eyes, with the brother begging for his life. The sister spiraled into drug use and sale and had a baby at the age of 16. Both were there to tell the audience that in spite of what they went through, with the help of their grandmother and other members of the community, they were able to survive their tragedy and go on to lead productive lives.

If you're going to babble on inanely about someone as digby does about Bill Cosby, why not make sure of what you're babbling about? Why not make sure that what you're giving ignorant views about are true, by making sure that you've carefully listened to what you're watching, and understood it at the same time, instead of running off inanely at the mouth before those who read you and believe every word you print. Perhaps digby thinks she is defending blacks against the undeserved jabs she feels Cosby is issuing to people who can't defend themselves, which he is not. Cosby is not, as I and so many other blacks know, leveling judgment against that segment of our population who honestly cannot do any better, but he is leveling it against those who know they can do better but aren't even trying. We know he is talking to those of us who know we must do better, for themselves and for their children, or we as a culture will slip further and further behind. He does it because he knows that there is no leader out there doing what needs to be done, and he does it because he loves his people. He does it because if he doesn't, no one will.

Because I still can't believe digby said what she did, that she portrays herself as honestly not knowing what kind of "gibberish" Cosby is speaking, I will give her the benefit of the doubt and not accuse her of racism, but state that she does need to examine the video again and visit Ophra's site for the video of her show, then rethink her statements. Otherwise, I'll just go on believing she's a drunken old fool who needs to get her head examined and hearing aid tested.

DEAR MS. ANN; SIT YOUR DUMB ASS DOWN

2007-10-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

I am so indredibly angry I hope I don't burn my machine up. Digby, at Hullabaloo, has written one of the most irresponsible pieces I have ever seen. Apparently, Bill Cosby was on Meet the Press this weekend and caused a stir in the white world, setting digby off. She posted a transcript of his comments and none of the questions he was asked, claiming that Cosby rambled on and spoke mostly gibberish, and did not give Dr. Alvin Toussaint any chance to speak whatsoever. Before I even began posting I checked out the video and my anger mounted. The video quite clearly shows that Cosby is speaking clearly, intelligently, and knows exactly what he is saying. He isn't saying anything that he hasn't been saying for the last five or six years, and he isn't saying anything that isn't the truth. Not only did she not do her homework, she misrepresented everything that Cosby was saying, and did a lazyassed hit job.

I am so sick and tired of white people telling black people what to say about their own situations and anything else for that matter. I refuse to link to her site because she ain't worth all that, but I did do a response to her.

Dear Ms. Ann;
I am not going to wear you the brand new ass you deserve because you're so sorry and pitiful. I understood what Bill Cosby was saying perfectly and I wholeheartedly agree with him. What happened to the questions he was asked? Might that have helped your readers to understand what he was saying instead of assigning it as so much gibberish spoken by an "elderly black man?" Perhaps if you jut stuck to trying to interpret the meanings of your own ugly racist culture then all would be well for you. Just stick what you know, white people, and you will be all right. I've grown weary of white people telling black people how to think, what to say, when to say it, when it is proper for blacks to speak, always to wait on whites to give us the signal. Please Ms. Ann, may I speak a word Ms. Ann, ain't meanin' no harm ya understands, but I'se got apiece to speak, iffn' you don't mind. Yessem, I'mma sit down now, sorry to bother you, Ms. Ann. I have no idea what your politics, and could care less really. I don't trust whites as far I can throw em, repugs or dummycrats, because as you can see, racism still exist, on either side. Republicans hate the hell out of us and we know it; democrats, similar to you, think we should just sit at the back of the room and hesh our mouths, and just listen to what the white man has to say, and then vote for them. I'm beginning to believe that we don't owe our allegiance to anyone, right or left, and that you need to work harder to earn our attention. I never read you because you, like many other white bloggers, aren't worth the print or my attention, but since my attention was called to your post, here I am. You might remember me from back in 2003 when I said you were white. At the time I had no idea that anyone wanted to do you harm. Perhaps instead of that white man's pic you would have been better off putting up the pic of a lawn jockey, then no one would have guessed you were a Ms. Ann white woman. I would suggest you look up the term Ms. Ann. Now, you take care, and please, stay on the white side of the tracks and stop venturing into the black world. I wouldn't want you to tarred. I'm also going to post this on my own blog, and try to look up that interview with Bill Cosby.

I have since viewed the video of what Bill had to say, and I got even angrier. digby's post was even shallower and more racist than I thought, and was highly irresponsible. That video of the interview he did with Tim Russert is just as lucid an intelligent as Bill Cosby has ever been, and he isn't saying anything he hasn't already said before. For her to have posted his comments in such a manner, with no questions, and just saying that his statements were the ravings of a senile old man are just beyond irresponsible to just plain racist. The video is available on Youtube, and it shows that Cosby is speaking just as lucidly and eloquently as he has all the years of his long and wonderful career. I would suggest to digby that if she isn't going to do anything but a lazyassed, halfassed job, then as far as black people are concerned- don't do us any damned favors, please.

The video of the conversation with Russert can be seen at msnbc in the video section, and comes right up at this time. Just totally unbelievable.

DAVID BANNER:SORRY EXCUSE OF A BLACK MAN

2007-10-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

Apparently, David Banner is still whining, snotting and crying about the fact that black women are demanding that he act like an adult and stop portraying us in an insulting and degrading manner. Here is the interview he gave to Rolling Stone. And below is my response. A tip of the hat to WAOD.

You know, everyone seems to forget what this is really all about. This is about painting black women as bitches, whores, sluts, golddiggers and anything else so called hip hop "artist" care to paint us as, degrading us like so much used toilet tissue, all the while painting themselves as humanitarians. This is about taking away the view of a black woman as a human being, a living breathing entity, and not so much whole sale slop, to be used by black men to earn a dime from the very same folks on this post; whites. How can calling a black woman bitch, whore, slut be art? Who is David Banner to paint every black woman as such? Or any hip hop "artist" for that matter? Is he the arch angel of God that he knows that this is who she is? If everyone in the ghetto is calling black women by these names, doesn't it mean that he should be correcting them not joining them? All David Banner and the rest of hip hop is saying is this; we have found out that by degrading black women in a way in which they cannot defend themselves, and in a way that shows their degradation by us as black men, and in imagery that is insulting, disgusting and pornographic, which sells to the population with the most money, we want to continue as we have because not only does it make us money, it's our freedom of speech. We don't feel as if we have an obligation to portray black women in any realistic light whatsoever, as that does not add money to our pockets, nor to the pockets of our white masters, the record moguls we slave to. Black women should just sit down and shut the fuck up because we have finally found a way to use their black asses in a way that enriches us; writing lyrics like bitch I know; making sex objects out of women for years at BET; showing them in thongs and nipple covers, cavorting around with black men covered from head to toe in baggy clothing, showing nothing; Tip Drill; chinging a credit card card down a black woman's butt cheeks; yes Nellie, you will be forever remembered for that; showing the world that the only thing a black woman is good for is being ready for sex, any time, any where, any place, and with however many men we please; we want to be able to continue the degradation, and to hell with black women and what they have to say, it's all art. David Banner, in essence, is saying that I don't want to be an adult, I want to be forever 16, for who but a 16 year old could write such lyrics? Who but a 16 year old could ask to be excused for the imagery of black women as sexual jungle bunnies? As no more than a lascivious and lewd animalistic being? Only little boys would whine and cry in this way when they know they've been caught doing things they know are past them, when they know they need to put aside cursing women and begin to become men and respect not just black women but themselves. Only little boys would whine at being told they must now put away their "toys" and become men, and act as a man would act, not as a little boy, snickering behind his hand and cursing adults. That is what must happen if hip hop "artists" want to be respected. They must put aside their degradation and misogynistic views of women, and become part of the human race. If they want respect they're going to have to earn it. You're not a humanitarian if you don't treat one half of the race, and part of the race you belong to as so much garbage to be discarded and thrown away. Until you do this, I cannot consider you as men, for how can I when you degrade and disrespect me before the rest of the world? It doesn't work that way, and the sooner you accept this fact the sooner hip hop will grow and become respected for the incredible black created musical force that it can be, and not the destructive force of children.

A RAPE EPIDEMIC

2007-10-07T12:09:00.000-07:00

Why I followed a story to the New York Times I don't know, which is often the case for me. My memory ain't worth diddly. I won't print the whole story here, but you can read it here. Be ready with a box of tissues. It's the story of a rape epidemic in the Congo. Damn.

THREE DOCTORS

2007-10-03T16:58:00.001-07:00

Authors and 'Three Doctors' bond with fathers

By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY

NEWARK — They're three friends from Newark's inner city who demolished the stereotypes, overcame the odds and became doctors and authors.

They called themselves "The Three Doctors." Their third book, The Bond: Three Young Men Learn to Forgive and Reconnect With Their Fathers (Riverhead, $24.95), arrives Thursday.

That also happens to be the birthday of Rameck Hunt's father, Alim Bilal. An ex-con and former drug addict, Bilal belatedly put his life together, inspired by his son's success.

"The publisher didn't know it was his birthday," Hunt says. "It's spooky in a way, but maybe it's a sign: that it's a book that was meant to be."

Hunt, Sampson Davis and George Jenkins, all 34, grew up in broken homes. As they tell it, their mothers and grandmothers did all the heavy lifting of being parents. Their fathers were mostly absent.

That part of the story is all too familiar. The rest is not: The three friends pledged in their senior year of high school that they would all go to college, then on to medical school.

They did, and they wrote about it in their 2002 best seller, The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream. A children's version, WeBeat the Street: How a Friendship Pact Led to Success, followed in 2005.

Hunt, an internist at the University Medical Center in Princeton, N.J., came up with the idea for the new book. At first, he thought it would be about just him and his father.

But as he talked to Davis and Jenkins, "we realized that each of us had a similar but different story to tell. We had all grown up in a world where it seemed normal for men to abandon their children."

Davis, an emergency-room doctor at Newark's St. Michael's Medical Center and two other hospitals, has a Christmas memory of the year when he was 6 when his father pulled a gun on his mother.

"Mine wasn't the kind of house where you could learn a lot about conflict resolution," he says.

Jenkins, a dentist in Harlem and a professor at Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, grew up with little contact with his father, who lived in South Carolina.

"I'm not sure I even knew his phone number," he says.

Never a Father's Day

In their predominantly poor and black Newark neighborhood, Hunt says, "Father's Day was kind of like Rosh Hashana," the Jewish New Year. "It seemed like a celebration for other people, a day that belonged to another culture."

For their book, they enlisted the assistance of Margaret Bernstein, a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who wrote an article about them they liked.

They set out not only to describe their childhoods but also to include their fathers' stories and the sons' attempts to get past their lingering resentments. "Sometimes a son has to take it upon himself to bridge the gap when a father can't," is how Hunt puts it.

At the end of a workday last week, the three doctors all looked tired. They were meeting at the Newark campus of Rutgers University, where they have an office for their educational/medical foundation (threedoctorsfoundation .org). But the more they talked about their book, the more energetic they became.

Not that is was easy to write. Jenkins recalls that his initial enthusiasm for the project dredged up "bitter feelings I had buried about my dad, feelings that eat at you and can eat you up." For a while, he stopped work on the book, waiting to see chapters from Davis and Hunt. And he had to persuade his father to open up to Bernstein about his failures. Jenkins says, "My attitude was, 'At least he can do this for me.' "

Davis' father, Kenneth, 81, became too ill to cooperate, but the other two dads did. "Both were extremely likable men," Bernstein says. "Although they were absentee fathers, they weren't villains."

By then, Hunt's father, 52, had rebuilt his life and talked "easily about his life and his flaws and his many regrets," she says. "He knew how to wield his personal story effectively, like a cautionary tale."

She found George Jenkins Sr., 65, "wanted badly to not repeat the pattern of fatherlessness he'd had in his own life. Yet he didn't know how to create that bond during his brief visits with his son. I found it sad; he had thought he could wait until George became a man to explain his side of the story, but it was too little too late."

Newark: 'Worst of all'

In 1975, two years after the three doctors were born, Harper's analyzed the 50 largest cities and declared that Newark "stands without serious challenge as worst of all." After decades of losing white and middle-class black residents, downtown is in what officials call a "renaissance," but Newark remains one of the most violent cities. Per capita, its murder rate is three times higher than New York's.

In August, even jaded Newark was shocked by the murders of three black college students who, police said, weren't involved with a gang or drugs, just socializing at a playground. Witnesses said they were lined up and shot in the head in an apparent robbery.

"It's so senseless," Jenkins says. "They weren't bad kids. They weren't in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing. How can you protect them?"

Hunt knows how quickly a life can change on the streets. At 16, he got into a fight with a crackhead, and to show off to his friends, he "gently" stabbed him in the thigh with a knife. Hunt was charged with attempted murder, but the case was thrown out when the victim failed to appear in court. The close call helped him realize "that being a rough guy wasn't me."

None of the three doctors is married or a father. All are dating, a subject they kid each other about. And all say that growing up with absentee fathers has made relationships with women harder.

"I never got a chance to see how to treat a lady every day, how to compromise, how to make a relationship work while raising a family," Jenkins says.

Hunt says: "We didn't write a how-to book. We're not telling anyone how to be a good father. But we wanted to help inspire and provoke people to think about their fathers or their sons and daughters."

He hopes the book is "more universal than it appears on the cover: three young black guys, like this is only a problem for black families."

Statistics do show fatherlessness is most common among poor black families, but Hunt says: "It can be problem even if the dad is in the home but emotionally unavailable. They don't have statistics for that."

At the funeral of Davis' father in May, a relative showed Davis a copy of a résumé Davis wrote when he was in medical school.

"My dad had made copies of it and sent it around to relatives down South to show what I had done. He was proud of me, but he couldn't tell me directly. So part of me has to say, 'That's OK. That's who he was.' "

For years, Jenkins didn't want anyone to think "that my father had something to do with the success I've experienced. So I admit that I have put up a wall between us."

Changing that remains a work in progress. His father's chapter in the book ends hopefully: "I continue to invite George to family reunions so he can meet the folks down here who are so proud of him. Perhaps one of these days, he'll make it."

Jenkins hasn't but says he hopes to someday: "It's always at the wrong time. I'm busy. I've got a new job, and I've got the foundation, and I've got my own life.

"But it's not malicious. I used to have a lot of resentment that he wasn't there when I needed him, but at some point you've got to let it go and say, 'What's the point?' One of these years, I'll make that reunion."

SONS TRY TO RECONCILE PAST WITH PRESENT

2007-10-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

-George Jenkins Sr. and George Jenkins

Background: His father's heavy drinking, George Jenkins writes, prompted his mother to leave South Carolina and move north with her two sons. Jenkins, who wasn't quite 2, writes, "I don't think I've seen my father a dozen times since we got on that bus."

Current relationship: Still tenuous, although Jenkins says forgiving his father has allowed him to move forward. "I began to see that my dad didn't intentionally make things the way they were, nor did he want them to be that way. … We now talk fairly often and care enough to keep up-to-date with what's going on in each other's life."

-Alim Bilal and Rameck Hunt

Background: Hunt's parents never married. Except for one summer, Hunt never lived with his father, who spent more than two decades as an addict, in and out of prison. A decade ago, Bilal kicked his drug habit, went back to college and became a drug and alcohol counselor.

Current relationship: Close, although Bilal suffered brain damage after a heart attack last year. He can't walk and doesn't speak much. His son has abandoned "visions of him going on tour with us to promote this book. I couldn't wait to show him off."

-Kenneth Davis and Sampson Davis

Background : After years of fighting with his wife, Kenneth Davis moved out to live with his girlfriend when his son was 12. Even before that, he had been a "distant and hands-off dad." He stayed in his son's life only peripherally, although he lived just 20 minutes away.

Current relationship: Kenneth Davis died in May after years of suffering from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. His son writes, "There is a part of me that will always be missing, a part that is uncompensated by everything else I do."

JOHN DEPETRO:WHY COTTON GOES TO HARLEM

2007-10-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

Summary: On MSNBC Live with Dan Abrams, discussing Bill O'Reilly's recent controversial comments about his visit to Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem, Rhode Island radio host John DePetro stated: "It was a discussion on race and we're talking about Harlem. And by and large -- I lived in New York for years -- white people don't go to Harlem." He continued: "If Dan Abrams and John DePetro, Bill O'Reilly, some white guys are sitting around a table, and Dan Abrams said, 'Yeah, I was up in Harlem last night.' We would think you were either, a) looking for drugs, or, b) looking for a prostitute."

O.K., there is something going on here. There's just too many white folks coming out of the woodwork with their racist views and attitudes! Video here.

REV. YEARWOOD:YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

2007-10-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

Today, Tuesday Oct 2nd, I was in line for the Blackwater hearing on Capitol Hill at 9:15 in the morning. When I got to the front of the line at 11:30, Capitol Police stopped the line. I stood there for two hours while the same officers who leapt on me three weeks ago outside of the Petraeus hearing, pointed and stared at me. I stood there, humming “we shall overcome.”

Congresswoman Maxine Waters showed up at 1:30 and saw me standing there. She demanded that I be let into the hearing. Cops were swarming the door, and the honorable Congresswoman from California escorted me into the hearing. Once I got in, three cops stood near me, so I would not forget that I was in their territory.

It is just incredible that as a peace activist, a former Chaplain candidate in the Air Force Reserve, and a Minister, I would be treated so disrespectfully in the halls of Congress.

In case you've forgotten you can see video here.

MICHAEL MEDVED:WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

2007-10-01T23:13:00.000-07:00

Michael Medved became Keith Olberman's worst person in the world last night, for spouting his racist views on slavery. You can watch the video here. Just click on the picture of Medved to be taken to the video. He deserves it.

BECAUSE THE RACISM JUST KEEPS ON COMING

2007-09-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

Does it ever stop? What's up these days with white people and racism? What is it that they just don't get? I don't know what it is, but here is an article from Town Hall, before somebody sees it and takes it down. It's very long, I know, but maybe you could just read the pertinent parts, you know, the six points, the good ones about slavery, but this just needs to be seen to be believed.

Six inconvenient truths about the U.S. and slavery
By Michael Medved
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Those who want to discredit the United States and to deny our role as history’s most powerful and pre-eminent force for freedom, goodness and human dignity invariably focus on America’s bloody past as a slave-holding nation. Along with the displacement and mistreatment of Native Americans, the enslavement of literally millions of Africans counts as one of our two founding crimes—and an obvious rebuttal to any claims that this Republic truly represents “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” According to America-bashers at home and abroad, open-minded students of our history ought to feel more guilt than pride, and strive for “reparations” or other restitution to overcome the nation’s uniquely cruel, racist and rapacious legacy.

Unfortunately, the current mania for exaggerating America’s culpability for the horrors of slavery bears no more connection to reality than the old, discredited tendency to deny that the U.S. bore any blame at all. No, it’s not true that the “peculiar institution” featured kind-hearted, paternalistic masters and happy, dancing field-hands, any more than it’s true that America displayed unparalleled barbarity or enjoyed disproportionate benefit from kidnapping and exploiting innocent Africans.

An honest and balanced understanding of the position of slavery in the American experience requires a serious attempt to place the institution in historical context and to clear-away some of the common myths and distortions.

1. SLAVERY WAS AN ANCIENT AND UNIVERSAL INSTITUTION, NOT A DISTINCTIVELY AMERICAN INNOVATION. At the time of the founding of the Republic in 1776, slavery existed literally everywhere on earth and had been an accepted aspect of human history from the very beginning of organized societies. Current thinking suggests that human beings took a crucial leap toward civilization about 10,000 years ago with the submission, training and domestication of important animal species (cows, sheep, swine, goats, chickens, horses and so forth) and, at the same time, began the “domestication,” bestialization and ownership of fellow human beings captured as prisoners in primitive wars. In ancient Greece, the great philosopher Aristotle described the ox as “the poor man’s slave” while Xenophon likened the teaching of slaves “to the training of wild animals.” Aristotle further opined that “it is clear that there are certain people who are free and certain who are slaves by nature, and it is both to their advantage, and just, for them to be slaves.” The Romans seized so many captives from Eastern Europe that the terms “Slav” and “slave” bore the same origins. All the great cultures of the ancient world, from Egypt to Babylonia, Athens to Rome, Persia to India to China, depended upon the brutal enslavement of the masses – often representing heavy majorities of the population. Contrary to the glamorization of aboriginal New World cultures, the Mayas, Aztecs and Incas counted among the most brutal slave-masters of them all --- not only turning the members of other tribes into harshly abused beasts of burden but also using these conquered enemies to feed a limitless lust for human sacrifice. The Tupinamba, a powerful tribe on the coast of Brazil south of the Amazon, took huge numbers of captives, then humiliated them for months or years, before engaging in mass slaughter of their victims in ritualized cannibalistic feasts. In Africa, slavery also represented a timeless norm long before any intrusion by Europeans. Moreover, the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch or British slave traders rarely penetrated far beyond the coasts: the actual capture and kidnapping of the millions of victims always occurred at the hands of neighboring tribes. As the great African-American historian Nathan Huggins pointed out, “virtually all of the enslavement of Africans was carried out by other Africans” but the concept of an African “race” was the invention of Western colonists, and most African traders “saw themselves as selling people other than their own.” In the final analysis, Yale historian David Brion Davis in his definitive 2006 history “Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World” notes that “colonial North America…surprisingly received only 5 to 6 percent of the African slaves shipped across the Atlantic.” Meanwhile, the Arab slave trade (primarily from East Africa) lasted longer and enslaved more human beings than the European slavers working the other side of the continent. According to the best estimates, Islamic societies shipped between 12 and 17 million African slaves out of their homes in the course of a thousand years; the best estimate for the number of Africans enslaved by Europeans amounts to 11 million. In other words, when taking the prodigious and unspeakably cruel Islamic enslavements into the equation, at least 97% of all African men, women and children who were kidnapped, sold, and taken from their homes, were sent somewhere other than the British colonies of North America. In this context there is no historical basis to claim that the United States bears primary, or even prominent guilt for the depredations of centuries of African slavery.

2. SLAVERY EXISTED ONLY BRIEFLY, AND IN LIMITED LOCALES, IN THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC – INVOLVING ONLY A TINY PERCENTAGE OF THE ANCESTORS OF TODAY’S AMERICANS. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution put a formal end to the institution of slavery 89 years after the birth of the Republic; 142 years have passed since this welcome emancipation. Moreover, the importation of slaves came to an end in 1808 (as provided by the Constitution), a mere 32 years after independence, and slavery had been outlawed in most states decades before the Civil War. Even in the South, more than 80% of the white population never owned slaves. Given the fact that the majority of today’s non-black Americans descend from immigrants who arrived in this country after the War Between the States, only a tiny percentage of today’s white citizens – perhaps as few as 5% -- bear any authentic sort of generational guilt for the exploitation of slave labor. Of course, a hundred years of Jim Crow laws, economic oppression and indefensible discrimination followed the theoretical emancipation of the slaves, but those harsh realities raise different issues from those connected to the long-ago history of bondage.

3. THOUGH BRUTAL, SLAVERY WASN’T GENOCIDAL: LIVE SLAVES WERE VALUABLE BUT DEAD CAPTIVES BROUGHT NO PROFIT. Historians agree that hundreds of thousands, and probably millions of slaves perished over the course of 300 years during the rigors of the “Middle Passage” across the Atlantic Ocean. Estimates remain inevitably imprecise, but range as high as one third of the slave “cargo” who perished from disease or overcrowding during transport from Africa. Perhaps the most horrifying aspect of these voyages involves the fact that no slave traders wanted to see this level of deadly suffering: they benefited only from delivering (and selling) live slaves, not from tossing corpses into the ocean. By definition, the crime of genocide requires the deliberate slaughter of a specific group of people; slavers invariably preferred oppressing and exploiting live Africans rather than murdering them en masse. Here, the popular, facile comparisons between slavery and the Holocaust quickly break down: the Nazis occasionally benefited from the slave labor of their victims, but the ultimate purpose of facilities like Auschwitz involved mass death, not profit or productivity. For slave owners and slave dealers in the New World, however, death of your human property cost you money, just as the death of your domestic animals would cause financial damage. And as with their horses and cows, slave owners took pride and care in breeding as many new slaves as possible. Rather than eliminating the slave population, profit-oriented masters wanted to produce as many new, young slaves as they could. This hardly represents a compassionate or decent way to treat your fellow human beings, but it does amount to the very opposite of genocide. As David Brion Davis reports, slave holders in North America developed formidable expertise in keeping their “bondsmen” alive and healthy enough to produce abundant offspring. The British colonists took pride in slaves who “developed an almost unique and rapid rate of population growth, freeing the later United States from a need for further African imports.”

4. IT’S NOT TRUE THAT THE U.S. BECAME A WEALTHY NATION THROUGH THE ABUSE OF SLAVE LABOR: THE MOST PROSPEROUS STATES IN THE COUNTRY WERE THOSE THAT FIRST FREED THEIR SLAVES. Pennsylvania passed an emancipation law in 1780; Connecticut and Rhode Island followed four years later (all before the Constitution). New York approved emancipation in 1799. These states (with dynamic banking centers in Philadelphia and Manhattan) quickly emerged as robust centers of commerce and manufacturing, greatly enriching themselves while the slave-based economies in the South languished by comparison. At the time of the Constitution, Virginia constituted the most populous and wealthiest state in the Union, but by the time of the War Between the States the Old Dominion had fallen far behind a half-dozen northern states that had outlawed slavery two generations earlier. All analyses of Northern victory in the great sectional struggle highlights the vast advantages in terms of wealth and productivity in New England, the Mid-Atlantic States and the Midwest, compared to the relatively backward and impoverished states of the Confederacy. While a few elite families in the Old South undoubtedly based their formidable fortunes on the labor of slaves, the prevailing reality of the planter class involved chronic indebtedness and shaky finances long before the ultimate collapse of the evil system of bondage. The notion that America based its wealth and development on slave labor hardly comports with the obvious reality that for two hundred years since the founding of the Republic, by far the poorest and least developed section of the nation was precisely that region where slavery once prevailed.

5. WHILE AMERICA DESERVES NO UNIQUE BLAME FOR THE EXISTENCE OF SLAVERY, THE UNITED STATES MERITS SPECIAL CREDIT FOR ITS RAPID ABOLITION. In the course of scarcely more than a century following the emergence of the American Republic, men of conscience, principle and unflagging energy succeeded in abolishing slavery not just in the New World but in all nations of the West. During three eventful generations, one of the most ancient, ubiquitous and unquestioned of all human institutions (considered utterly indispensable by the “enlightened” philosophers of Greece and Rome) became universally discredited and finally illegal – with Brazil at last liberating all its slaves in 1888. This worldwide mass movement (spear-headed in Britain and elsewhere by fervent Evangelical Christians) brought about the most rapid and fundamental transformation in all human history. While the United States (and the British colonies that preceded our independence) played no prominent role in creating the institution of slavery, or even in establishing the long-standing African slave trade pioneered by Arab, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and other merchants long before the settlement of English North America, Americans did contribute mightily to the spectacularly successful anti-slavery agitation. As early as 1646, the Puritan founders of New England expressed their revulsion at the enslavement of their fellow children of God. When magistrates in Massachusetts discovered that some of their citizens had raided an African village and violently seized two natives to bring them across the Atlantic for sale in the New World, the General Court condemned “this haynos and crying sinn of man-stealing.” The officials promptly ordered the two blacks returned to their native land. Two years later, Rhode Island passed legislation denouncing the practice of enslaving Africans for life and ordered that any slaves “brought within the liberties of this Collonie” be set free after ten years “as the manner is with the English servants.” A hundred and thirty years later John Adams and Benjamin Franklin both spent most of their lives as committed activists in the abolitionist cause, and Thomas Jefferson included a bitter condemnation of slavery in his original draft of the Declaration of Independence. This remarkable passage saw African bondage as “cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty” and described “a market where MEN should be bought and sold” as constituting “piratical warfare” and “execrable commerce.” Unfortunately, the Continental Congress removed this prescient, powerful denunciation in order to win approval from Jefferson’s fellow slave-owners, but the impact of the Declaration and the American Revolution remained a powerful factor in energizing and inspiring the international anti-slavery cause. Nowhere did idealists pay a higher price for liberation than they did in the United States of America. Confederate forces (very few of whom ever owned slaves) may not have fought consciously to defend the Peculiar Institution, but Union soldiers and sailors (particularly at the end of the war) proudly risked their lives for the emancipation cause. Julia Ward Howe’s powerful and popular “Battle Hymn of the Republic” called on Federal troops to follow Christ’s example: “as he died to make men holy/let us die to make men free.” And many of them did die, some 364,000 in four years of combat—or the stunning equivalent of five million deaths as a percentage of today’s United States population. Moreover, the economic cost of liberation remained almost unimaginable. In nearly all other nations, the government paid some form of compensation to slave-owners at the time of emancipation, but Southern slave-owners received no reimbursement of any kind when they lost an estimated $3.5 billion in 1860 dollars (about $70 billion in today’s dollars) of what Davis describes as a “hitherto legally accepted form of property.” The most notable aspect of America’s history with slavery doesn’t involve its tortured and bloody existence, but the unprecedented speed and determination with which abolitionists roused the national conscience and put this age-old evil to an end.

6. THERE IS NO REASON TO BELIEVE THAT TODAY’S AFRICAN-AMERICANS WOULD BE BETTER OFF IF THEIR ANCESTORS HAD REMAINED BEHIND IN AFRICA. The idea of reparations rests on the notion of making up to the descendants of slaves for the incalculable damage done to their family status and welfare by the enslavement of generations of their ancestors. In theory, reparationists want society to repair the wrongs of the past by putting today’s African-Americans into the sort of situation they would have enjoyed if their forebears hadn’t been kidnapped, sold and transported across the ocean. Unfortunately, to bring American blacks in line with their cousins who the slave-traders left behind in Africa would require a drastic reduction in their wealth, living standards, and economic and political opportunities. No honest observer can deny or dismiss this nation’s long record of racism and injustice, but it’s also obvious that Americans of African descent enjoy vastly greater wealth and human rights of every variety than the citizens of any nation of the Mother Continent. If we sought to erase the impact of slavery on specific black families, we would need to obliterate the spectacular economic progress made by those families (and by US citizens in general) over the last 100 years. In view of the last century of history in Nigeria or Ivory Coast or Sierra Leone or Zimbabwe, could any African American say with confidence that he or she would have fared better had some distant ancestor not been enslaved? Of course, those who seek reparations would also cite the devastating impact of Western colonialism in stunting African progress, but the United States played virtually no role in the colonization of the continent. The British, French, Italians, Portuguese, Germans and others all established brutal colonial rule in Africa; tiny Belgium became a particularly oppressive and bloodthirsty colonial power in the Congo. The United States, on the other hand, sponsored only one long-term venture on the African continent: the colony of Liberia, an independent nation set up as a haven for liberated American slaves who wanted to go “home.” The fact that so few availed themselves of the opportunity, or heeded the back-to-African exhortations of turn- of-the-century Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey, reflects the reality that descendants of slaves understood they were better off remaining in the United States, for all its faults.

In short, politically correct assumptions about America’s entanglement with slavery lack any sense of depth, perspective or context. As with so many other persistent lies about this fortunate land, the unthinking indictment of the United States as uniquely blameworthy for an evil institution ignores the fact that the record of previous generations provides some basis for pride as well as guilt.

Michael Medved, nationally syndicated talk radio host, is author of 10 non-fiction books, including The Shadow Presidents and Right Turns.

COTTON COMES TO HARLEM:THE O'REILLY FACTOR

2007-09-27T23:57:00.000-07:00

It seems as if talking pundithead Bill O'Reilly has finally gotten himself into some trouble he can't get out of. The right wing apologist, often known for his foolish off the cuff remarks, went to dinner in Harlem with Rev. Al Sharpton and apparently observed blacks in their natural habitat, a famous soul food rectaurant, Sylvia's, owned and run by blacks. He was amazed that blacks can sit down to dinner, order food properly, eat with their knives and forks, and don't have to shout m'fer I want some more tea. Imagine that.

"I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City," he said. "It was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks [and has a] primarily black patronship. It was the same. And that's really what this society is really all about now here in the U.S.A. There's no difference."

He later added: "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, '[Expletive], I want some more ice tea.' It was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there ordering and having fun and there wasn't any craziness at all."

He also didn't know that blacks also dressed and acted well when they go to concerts.

On the same program last week, O'Reilly also described going to an Anita Baker concert at Radio City Music Hall at which "the blacks [patrons] were well dressed." He added, "This is what white America doesn't know. They think the culture is dominated by Twista, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg."

This is what white America doesn't know? This would be slightly amusing if if wasn't just the biggest piece of nonsense going. I didn't think anomalies like this still existed in the world the way they did when I was growing up. I knew plenty of whites with this attitude, and O'Reilly's not that much older than me. As for his apologists, the man is simply a racist and everyone knows it but him. If they don't know it then let me tell them; when a white man basically says that he didn't know that most African Americans didn't act like backwards African jungle bunnies, actually knowing how to get their feed on using a knife and fork, then he is racist. No if, ands, or buts. Racist.

NOTPREZNITBUSH AND $12,000,000,000

2007-09-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

An armed guard poses beside pallets of $100 bills in Baghdad. Almost $12bn in cash was spent by the US-led authority

O.K., I admit that I am lousy at math, always have been, but I can balance my checkbook to a penny, so don't go there. I still haven't managed to formulate in my head what I'm going to write about the digital divide, but this is part of it. If you have ever cruised any of the msb as opposed to the bwb(blogging while brown) you've noticed it. They're almost 100% white, and most of their content deals with political issues, mostly getting their candidates elected into office. Don't get me wrong, sites such as dkos, Atrios and others do good and great works policing politicians and correcting right wing propaganda. The only problem is that we who bwb get left behind, and in essence segregated, our voices not heard in important forums.

Fortunately, with the importance of the Jena 6 and an incredible movement started by black bloggers we may not be left behind too much longer. I know that there is also a convention coming up next summer in Atlanta which I would dearly love to go to but can't. I certainly need to know how to drive more traffic to this lonely planet, lol. At any rate you can find out more about the convention here. I hope the convention is well attended and worthwhile.

Now, on to the subject of my post. Which is the same. Not enough of the msb kept the heat on this subject to my way of thinking, though I'm not sure it would have done much good because NotPrezNitBush has yet to explain where $12,000,000,000 went, which was sent to Iraq on pallets. You can read that story at the Vanguard. I have never understood how our government allowed $12,000,000,000 in cold hard cash to be sent on a plane and unloaded in the open only to have it disappear. $12, 000,000,000. I can't get over it. Look at this;

In the year after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 nearly 281 million notes, weighing 363 tonnes, were sent from New York to Baghdad for disbursement to Iraqi ministries and US contractors. Using C-130 planes, the deliveries took place once or twice a month with the biggest of $2,401,600,000 on June 22 2004, six days before the handover.

Can you believe that? This government, which promotes one of the worst policies ever created, no child left behind, did this with money that should have gone to our children and the school system which needed it desperately, and yet they either can't, won't, or don't know where the publics money went. I haven't figured out yet why none of the republicans and democrats aren't looking harder to see where this money went, what happened to it. Why does NotPreznitBush continually slash funding for educational programs and ask for more war spending, to the tune of $190,000,000,000? What if that money could go to the infrastructure of our school system? How much would such a cash infusion help our children? Still more than a year to suffer the man who isn't president.

JENA

2007-09-20T20:16:00.001-07:00

A mass of protesters makes its way Thursday toward the high school in Jena, La. (AP photo by Frank Franklin II / September 20, 2007)

WHERE IS THE HIP HOP NATION?

2007-09-20T16:58:00.000-07:00

The kids did good, they did really good. I know that a contingency from Howard University went down, as well as colleges from around the country. The young people finally took up the march where so many of us left off, and where the death of Dr. King ended it. I give praise where praise is due, to the black youth of this country for stepping up when it counted.

On another front, I heard an announcement this morning that rock star David Bowie has contributed $10,000 to the defense fund for the Jena 6. Rock on with your bad self, David Bowie.

And on this front; where is the hip hop nation in all this? This was the perfect chance for those who write hate lyrics about black women to come out of the closet and ride for the Jena 6. Were their schedules so busy about the business of betraying us to the white moguls they work for that they couldn't take the time to go to such a historic protest as this? Hip hop "artists", tired of being seen as the women haters that they are, always having the spotlight shone on their misogynistic portrayals of women, could have used this time to show another side of themselves, if there is another side. Where was big mouth Kanye West, 50 Cent, MIMS, Nas, Nellie(is he relevant anymore, as if I know), Russell (talking out his buttcrack) Simmons? If anyone knows whether or not any of these "artists" made themselves relevant and available, let me know. I wouldn't want to besmirch any of their good names. Or interrupt any of those minstrel shows they put on.

ANDERSON COOPER:TEARING UP THE SOULS OF BLACK MEN

2007-09-17T23:49:00.000-07:00

This is a post from my TerrorCheezeBlog which I decided needed to be here too. After some thought I will preface this that while Anderson Cooper is the host of 360, he is not totally to blame for the take down of Simpson. CNN is owner of the program, and there were plenty of others in on that take down and the hateration. It just seemed to me at the time that I was watching it Cooper's was the most detailed, though I don't doubt there won't be many more to come during this week.

For the last hour, almost without break, Anderson Cooper has been using his 360 in the bashing of O.J. Simpson. Here it is, now into the second hour of a two hour show, and this is still going on. About a half an hour ago they did the ultimate take down of a black man, Jeffrey Toobin and whatever other little black sidekick they had, agreeing that Simpson was guilty and that he was going to get whatever charges they could levy at him, and rightfully so. He was finally going to get his for the murders of his wife and her friend. Then they went on to do a break down of all the money Simpson was earning that they couldn't get at or put a dollar amount on, because, as the man said, none of it was "transparent". Next they went on to tell all the deals he was probably making under the table with his sports memorabilia, and his autograph signings, which everyone knows the athletes do. Oh, they shook O.J. upside down looking for the change in his pockets.

Now, I'm going to admit right here that I am no lover of O.J. Simpson. I don't really care about the man one way the other. He was once one of the greatest to play the game of football, and perhaps all that fame went to his head. Maybe once you taste what it's like to be famous and desired it's hard to get over. I don't really know, and it could be that he has a naturally inflated ego that's making white people scream their fool heads off about the man. They're all over the networks giving O.J. a workout, as we know that this will be the news for the next week. I may not be a fan of O.J., but I hate to see white people get together like a feeding shark frenzy and tear down black men for all the world to see, then turn their stupid asses around and pretend to care about the plight of young black boys while ripping affirmative action prograsms out from under their feet so that they can't attend college and talking about some damn ass boot straps they know we don't have. The parents of ghetto children do not have homes with equity to barrow against for the further education of their children.

It's an unfortunate thing that this has to happen, and worst yet that white folks are getting their hateration on, but they need to stop telling us how much they care, and how much they want to help all the while putting knives in our chests. Then they want to tell us when to and when not to play the race card. Katrina ring any bells, NotPresidentBush? White folks? Oh yes, and Cooper does go to Nawleans, as he tries to pronounce it, to play the reverse card, pretending to keep them honest and play white hero. Well Cooper and crew, CNN, here's hoping that you don't get karma'd for that display of yours tonight, as I understand you have much to be karm'd for should anyone decide to open some of your doors.

GREENSPAN TELLS US WHAT WE ALREADY KNEW

2007-09-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil. You can read the entire article here.

WHY ARE WHITES SO UPSET AT THE EMMYS?

2007-09-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

It's funny that so many whites are upset with each other about who won and who lost at the Emmy awards. How much more upset would they have been if blacks had won awards they felt they should have gotten? Or would they have just sat there silently, saying nothing, knowing they would get their own back the following year by blocking blacks from getting any awards? How many awards didn't blacks get that they deserved? How many years were we denied? I was watching the night Halle Berry was given her Oscar for Monster's Ball, and if that sister never does another thing in life, or garner's another award, I will always applaud her for that moment when she accepted the statue on behalf of all the sisters who had gone on before her, doing great work in film and yet never being recognized due to racism. I just wish whites would be a little more appreciative of all that they have and can get their hands on than they are while keeping others from getting theirs.

IT AIN'T OVER

2007-09-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Just because many of the charges against the kids who sat under the "whites only" tree have been dropped doesn't mean it's over. The three white kids who hung those nooses from that tree have yet to be charged with any crime at all, and they need to be charged with a hate crime, and possibly threats of bodily harm. The attorney general for the town needs to be investigated with the possibility that he could be fired. And where is Blanco in all this?

BOEHNER'S BONER

2007-09-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

BLITZER: How much longer will U.S. taxpayers have to shell out $2 billion a week or $3 billion a week as some now are suggesting the cost is going to endure? The loss in blood, the Americans who are killed every month, how much longer do you think this commitment, this military commitment is going to require?

BOEHNER: I think General Petraeus outlined it pretty clearly. We’re making success. We need to firm up those successes. We need to continue our effort here because, Wolf, long term, the investment that we’re making today will be a small price if we’re able to stop al Qaeda here, if we’re able to stabilize the Middle East, it’s not only going to be a small price for the near future, but think about the future for our kids and their kids. (His name is actually pronounced Bayner)

WHO'S PARADISE IS THIS ANYWAY?

2007-09-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

THIS IS PARADISE

I spent one of the last weekends of summer out on Long Island. People sailing on the bay. Families enjoying the beach. Children swimming in the ocean. Parents trying to catch up on their reading.

I went to the US Open to see Federer take apart his opponents. To watch the Williams sisters bring their particular brand of courage to the court once again. To see Henin hunker down and prevail.

I went to Radio City to hear Tony Bennett sing at a benefit for his arts education charity. Bennett, who brings more talent and musical history to a single performance than any ten artists, sang as beautifully as ever. But to see him at that great venue was a special evening. To be Tony Benett, the real Tony Bennett, for just one night. That would be something.

On Sunday, I attend the Emmys and hope my show fares well there and that we have a good season on NBC.

I live in New York and as 9/11 commemorations approach, I can't help but think that this city, this country of ours, this is paradise. Here. Now. Not some promise of where we may go in some Christian or Muslim depiction of an afterlife. All that one could hope for, that one could pray to God for, all that one could dream of having, without having to lie or steal or hurt another person in order to gain it, all of that is here on this Earth now.

Who is running for president that can remind us of that? Who, among all of these people, can promise to help us get our faith back? Who can promise us that they will lead us out of these horribly cynical times? Who can help us redefine our place in a world of ever shifting political realities? Who can gives us the courage to make the sacrifices we will certainly have to make in order to accommodate nature's new rules? Who can help us to overcome the awful shame we have endured during the past seven years?

My friend told me about a T-shirt she saw. "It's not the end of the world but I can see it from here." Perhaps the Earth possesses a self-purging mechanism. Perhaps we are destined to be purged, as the Earth seeks to balance its systems. In the meantime, I hold that this is paradise. Beautiful to the point of perfection. Well worth fighting for. That fight is on now and its first major battle is 14 months away.

O.K. It's not that I'm against people getting their's, or against white people for that matter, and for the most part I really do think whites severely under appreciate all that they have, but I really didn't want to read this when I'm already looking for the end of the month and the next little pieces of money I get. I desperately need a new car to replace the one I have, frightened to death that it will break down on me, leaving me and my sis without means of transportation at all. That, for me, is a scary thought. The utility bills scare me, that damned broken washing machine has my nerves frayed, along with a whole host of other problems I never thought I'd be dealing with at this point in life.

Whites run the earth, having everything handed to them on a platter, from birth to death, never having to wonder what it would be like if they were in the shoes of a black person, never having to wonder where their next dime is coming from, their next job, nothing. I am at least glad to see that Baldwin appreciates all that he has. May he not come back as a poor black man or woman, for that matter. Perhaps if I were not a poor black woman with health problems, and was the cherished white, blond woman, who could get any job she wanted, or marry a white man to give her what she wanted, I might see things from a different perspective. Otherwise, I am more than happy and content with the skin I'm in, I just wish I could get some of what Baldwin has while I am in it.

AND DEFINITELY BECAUSE IT'S HERE

2007-09-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

Residents: Nooses spark school violence, divide town

Story Highlights
Judge vacates one conviction against a teen accused in a high school fight
Attorneys to file emergency appeal to ask for a stay of teen's sentencing
Victim's mother: Charges warranted because attack could have killed her son
Attack, other violence came after white students hung nooses from campus tree

By Susan Roesgen and Eliott C. McLaughlin
CNN

JENA, Louisiana (CNN) -- A judge Tuesday vacated one of two convictions against a teen involved in a violent, racially charged incident in Louisiana that left another teen hospitalized.

Defense lawyers argued -- and 28th Judicial District Court Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. agreed -- that a charge of conspiracy to commit second-degree aggravated battery should have been brought against Mychal Bell in juvenile court rather than adult court.

But he left standing Bell's conviction on a second-degree aggravated battery charge.

The teen's attorneys said they would file an emergency appeal and ask for a stay of Bell's September 20 sentencing date until the appellate court rules.

A regular kid

Bell was like a lot of boys his age, his mother says.

The always-smiling 16-year-old often spent weekends on the couch, munching Little Debbie snack cakes, watching football and dreaming of the day he would join his heroes in the NFL.

That was before police arrested the star running back and five other teens -- dubbed the "Jena 6" -- on attempted murder and conspiracy charges after a December 4, 2006, fight at the local high school. Three of the six, including Bell, later had their charges reduced to aggravated battery.

Bell, now 17, sits in a cell in Jena, waiting to learn whether he will spend the next two decades in prison.

"He's not the same. He's grown up a lot since he's been in there. He's not the same ol' smiling Mychal he used to be," his mother, Melissa Bell, says. "I pray that the judge will go easy on him."

Mychal Bell wasn't convicted of attempted murder. The charges were diluted to aggravated battery and conspiracy, but undiluted is the outrage over the fates of Bell and the rest of the Jena 6. Watch deputies subdue Bell's father after the conviction »

Many in this sleepy town of 3,000, where 12 percent of the population is black, are calling Bell's June conviction a case of Jim Crow justice.

They question why Bell's public defender never called a witness in the trial. They question the all-white jury that took three hours to convict him. They question charges they say are wildly overblown. They question why the teen was tried as an adult.

And they say the fight never would have happened if not for the nooses.

A threat or a prank?

In September 2006, as the school year kicked off, a black Jena High School student asked the vice principal if he and some friends could sit under an oak tree where the white students typically congregated.

Told by the vice principal they could sit wherever they pleased, the student and his pals plopped down under the sprawling branches of a shade tree in the campus courtyard.

The next day, students arrived at school to find three nooses hanging from those branches.

"I seen them hanging. I'm thinking the KKK, you know, were hanging nooses. They want to hang somebody. Real nooses, the ones you see on TV, are the kind of nooses they were," Robert Bailey, 17, one of the Jena 6, told the syndicated radio show "Democracy Now!"

The school's principal recommended expulsion for those behind the nooses, according to the local newspaper in nearby Alexandria. Instead, The Town Talk reported, a school district committee overruled the recommendation and suspended three white students for three days for hanging the nooses, a gesture written off as a prank.

"Toilet paper, that's a prank, you know what I'm saying?" Bailey told the radio show. "Nooses hanging there -- nooses ain't no prank."

A series of scuffles ensued over the next three months as racial tension at the school became palpable.

The district attorney was summoned to address the student body. Off-campus fights were reported. Bailey said he had a beer bottle broken over his head in one incident, a shotgun pulled on him in another.

On November 30, someone torched the school's main academic building. The arson remains unsolved, but many suspect it's linked to the discord strangling Jena High.

The attack

Four days after the arson, several students jumped a white classmate, Justin Barker, knocking him unconscious before stomping and kicking him.

Parents of the Jena 6 say they heard Barker was hurling racial epithets. Barker's parents say he did nothing to provoke the beating.

Barker was taken to the hospital with injuries to both eyes and ears as well as cuts. His right eye had blood clots, said his mother, Kelli Barker. Justin Barker was treated and released that day.

Bell, Bailey, Theo Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and an unidentified juvenile -- all black teens -- were arrested and charged with attempted murder. The weapons used, according to the charges -- shoes. Their bails were set at between $70,000 and $138,000. Watch Purvis' mother say her son heard the 'lick' that leveled Barker

On Tuesday, LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters reduced the charges against Jones and Shaw to second-degree aggravated battery, the same charge on which Bell was convicted.

Only Bell remains in jail, on a $90,000 bond, and the judge has refused to lower it, citing Bell's criminal record, which includes four juvenile offenses -- two simple battery charges among them.

The Jena 6 say they are innocent. Bailey told CNN that by the time he arrived at the fight, students and coaches had broken it up.

"When a fight breaks out, all the kids just run to see a fight. That's just how it was," he said. "You really couldn't see nothing. So when I'm running to see what's going on, I got down there to the fight, it was over."

Attorneys ask judge to reconsider

Bell is scheduled for a September 20 sentencing hearing where he faces up to 22 years in prison. The other five await their days in court.

The case is getting international media attention -- a buzz that has drawn the NAACP and civil rights stalwarts such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III -- but many in Jena are skeptical the boys can get a fair trial.

"Jena has been a community that has had self-imposed segregation probably since the '50s. They never got the memo," said radio host Tony Brown, who coined the name Jena 6.

Brown, who hosts a statewide radio newsmagazine from Alexandria, where he has lived since 1991, says there are still "righteous people" in Jena. However, he said, there is little commingling among black and white residents and the town often abides by "a Jim Crow mentality."

The mothers of Bell and Bailey concur, but Caseptla Bailey insists, "Jena's a good place to live. It's home. It's something that's in our hearts."

Kristi Boyett, a white resident, is not so nostalgic. She and her family are leaving Jena "because of the racist stuff that's going on here," she said.

She fears for her children's safety in the public schools, she said, and she's not surprised that racial tension in Jena has reached a breaking point.

"That's the way this town's always been. I've lived here for 16 years, and it's been segregated since we lived here," she said.

'We lost Jena'

Other longtime residents, however, paint a more harmonious portrait of Jena and blame the media for casting their town in a negative light. Mayor Murphy McMillan declined to be interviewed, saying only, "The media is making our town look bad."

Paula Brewer, who grew up in Jena, told The Town Talk in Alexandria that "everybody talks to everybody" and there are no racial boundaries in the central Louisiana hamlet.

"Where did Jena go in all this?" she asked the newspaper. "We lost Jena. We aren't what they are calling us -- racist and ignorant. Jena is a good town with good people."

Though some say race drove the decision to charge the teens with attempted murder, Walters released a statement last year saying no one was charged "based on who they are." He has made no public comment since.

The victim's mother says she, too, believes the charges are warranted and not based on race. Had the attackers not been pulled off her son, she said, he could have been killed.

"I wish to goodness it wouldn't have happened," Kelli Barker said. "And I hate it for them parents. I mean, I can only imagine, but I also have to think about my child and my family."

Advocates for the Jena 6 aren't saying the boys should be let off if they indeed pummeled Justin Barker. Rather, they're saying the charges should match the crime -- and that the juvenile court should handle the teens' cases.

Brown said he will use his radio show as a platform to push for justice until an appellate court throws out Bell's conviction and the remaining Jena 6 see a fair trial.

Brown said of his rationale, "My grandma used to tell me, 'You can't hang a thief for murder,' and that's what they're doing in Jena."

This story did not go national as it should have, but we can fix that. Later I will try to have a place where you can donate to the defense fund.

BECAUSE IT'S STILL THERE

2007-09-10T21:41:00.000-07:00

6 Arrested in West Virginia After Woman Abused, Held Captive in House for a Week

Monday , September 10, 2007

A woman was sexually abused, beaten and humiliated while being held captive in a home for at least a week, sheriff's officials said Monday after making six arrests and calling the FBI to investigate it as a possible hate crime.

Those arrested, including a mother and son and a mother and daughter, are white. The victim, a Charleston woman who was being treated at a hospital Monday, is black.

"The things that were done to this woman are just indescribable," Logan County sheriff's Sgt. Sonya Porter said.

Deputies found the 23-year-old victim Saturday after going to the home in Big Creek, about 35 miles southwest of Charleston, to investigate an anonymous tip. One of the suspects, Frankie Brewster, was sitting on the front porch and told deputies she was alone, but moments later the victim limped toward the door, her arms outstretched, saying "help me," the sheriff's department said in a news release.

Besides being sexually assaulted, the victim was stabbed four times in the left leg and beaten, Porter said. Both of her eyes were black and blue. Deputies said the woman's wounds were inflicted at least a week ago.

During her capture, the victim was forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from the toilet, according to the criminal complaint filed in magistrate court. The woman also was choked with a cable cord and her hair cut, it alleges.

One of those arrested, Karen Burton, is accused of cutting the woman's ankle with a knife. She used the N-word in telling the woman she was victimized because she is black, according to the criminal complaint.

Deputies say the woman was also doused with hot water while being sexually assaulted.

"We have called the feds," Chief Deputy V.K. Dingess with the Logan County Sheriff's Department said Monday. "They may pick this up as a hate crime."

A call seeking comment from the FBI was not immediately returned Monday.

The six suspects were arrested Saturday and Sunday. Deputies were still trying to determine whether the victim knew her assailants and how she came to be at Brewster's home, Porter said.

Frankie Brewster, 49, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false information during a felony investigation. Deputies said she was the woman on the porch.

Her son, Bobby R. Brewster, 24, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony.

Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, is charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony.

Her daughter Alisha Burton, 23, of Chapmanville, and George A. Messer, 27, of Chapmanville, are charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery.

Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, is charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding.

All six were held Monday in lieu of $100,000 bond each, and all have asked for court-appointed public defenders.

Don't let anyone tell you that racism doesn't exist anymore.

A CHILD DIES IN MARYLAND

2007-09-10T19:15:00.000-07:00

From a toothache
-
For Want of a Dentist
Pr. George's Boy Dies After Bacteria From Tooth Spread to Brain

By Mary Otto
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 28, 2007; B01

Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.

A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.

If his mother had been insured.

If his family had not lost its Medicaid.

If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find.

If his mother hadn't been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.

By the time Deamonte's own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said. After two operations and more than six weeks of hospital care, the Prince George's County boy died.

Deamonte's death and the ultimate cost of his care, which could total more than $250,000, underscore an often-overlooked concern in the debate over universal health coverage: dental care.

Some poor children have no dental coverage at all. Others travel three hours to find a dentist willing to take Medicaid patients and accept the incumbent paperwork. And some, including Deamonte's brother, get in for a tooth cleaning but have trouble securing an oral surgeon to fix deeper problems.

In spite of efforts to change the system, fewer than one in three children in Maryland's Medicaid program received any dental service at all in 2005, the latest year for which figures are available from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The figures were worse elsewhere in the region. In the District, 29.3 percent got treatment, and in Virginia, 24.3 percent were treated, although all three jurisdictions say they have done a better job reaching children in recent years.

"I certainly hope the state agencies responsible for making sure these children have dental care take note so that Deamonte didn't die in vain," said Laurie Norris, a lawyer for the Baltimore-based Public Justice Center who tried to help the Driver family. "They know there is a problem, and they have not devoted adequate resources to solving it."

Maryland officials emphasize that the delivery of basic care has improved greatly since 1997, when the state instituted a managed care program, and 1998, when legislation that provided more money and set standards for access to dental care for poor children was enacted.

About 900 of the state's 5,500 dentists accept Medicaid patients, said Arthur Fridley, last year's president of the Maryland State Dental Association. Referring patients to specialists can be particularly difficult.

Fewer than 16 percent of Maryland's Medicaid children received restorative services -- such as filling cavities -- in 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available.

For families such as the Drivers, the systemic problems are often compounded by personal obstacles: lack of transportation, bouts of homelessness and erratic telephone and mail service.

The Driver children have never received routine dental attention, said their mother, Alyce Driver. The bakery, construction and home health-care jobs she has held have not provided insurance. The children's Medicaid coverage had temporarily lapsed at the time Deamonte was hospitalized. And even with Medicaid's promise of dental care, the problem, she said, was finding it.

When Deamonte got sick, his mother had not realized that his tooth had been bothering him. Instead, she was focusing on his younger brother, 10-year-old DaShawn, who "complains about his teeth all the time," she said.

DaShawn saw a dentist a couple of years ago, but the dentist discontinued the treatments, she said, after the boy squirmed too much in the chair. Then the family went through a crisis and spent some time in an Adelphi homeless shelter. From there, three of Driver's sons went to stay with their grandparents in a two-bedroom mobile home in Clinton.

By September, several of DaShawn's teeth had become abscessed. Driver began making calls about the boy's coverage but grew frustrated. She turned to Norris, who was working with homeless families in Prince George's.

Norris and her staff also ran into barriers: They said they made more than two dozen calls before reaching an official at the Driver family's Medicaid provider and a state supervising nurse who helped them find a dentist.

On Oct. 5, DaShawn saw Arthur Fridley, who cleaned the boy's teeth, took an X-ray and referred him to an oral surgeon. But the surgeon could not see him until Nov. 21, and that would be only for a consultation. Driver said she learned that DaShawn would need six teeth extracted and made an appointment for the earliest date available: Jan. 16.

But she had to cancel after learning Jan. 8 that the children had lost their Medicaid coverage a month earlier. She suspects that the paperwork to confirm their eligibility was mailed to the shelter in Adelphi, where they no longer live.

It was on Jan. 11 that Deamonte came home from school complaining of a headache. At Southern Maryland Hospital Center, his mother said, he got medicine for a headache, sinusitis and a dental abscess. But the next day, he was much sicker.

Eventually, he was rushed to Children's Hospital, where he underwent emergency brain surgery. He began to have seizures and had a second operation. The problem tooth was extracted.

After more than two weeks of care at Children's Hospital, the Clinton seventh-grader began undergoing six weeks of additional medical treatment as well as physical and occupational therapy at another hospital. He seemed to be mending slowly, doing math problems and enjoying visits with his brothers and teachers from his school, the Foundation School in Largo.

On Saturday, their last day together, Deamonte refused to eat but otherwise appeared happy, his mother said. They played cards and watched a show on television, lying together in his hospital bed. But after she left him that evening, he called her.

"Make sure you pray before you go to sleep," he told her.

The next morning at about 6, she got another call, this time from the boy's grandmother. Deamonte was unresponsive. She rushed back to the hospital.

"When I got there, my baby was gone," recounted his mother.

She said doctors are still not sure what happened to her son. His death certificate listed two conditions associated with brain infections: "meningoencephalitis" and "subdural empyema."

In spite of such modern innovations as the fluoridation of drinking water, tooth decay is still the single most common childhood disease nationwide, five times as common as asthma, experts say. Poor children are more than twice as likely to have cavities as their more affluent peers, research shows, but far less likely to get treatment.

Serious and costly medical consequences are "not uncommon," said Norman Tinanoff, chief of pediatric dentistry at the University of Maryland Dental School in Baltimore. For instance, Deamonte's bill for two weeks at Children's alone was expected to be between $200,000 and $250,000.

The federal government requires states to provide oral health services to children through Medicaid programs, but the shortage of dentists who will treat indigent patients remains a major barrier to care, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Access is worst in rural areas, where some families travel hours for dental care, Tinanoff said. In the Maryland General Assembly this year, lawmakers are considering a bill that would set aside $2 million a year for the next three years to expand public clinics where dental care remains a rarity for the poor.

Providing such access, Tinanoff and others said, eventually pays for itself, sparing children the pain and expense of a medical crisis.

Reimbursement rates for dentists remain low nationally, although Maryland, Virginia and the District have increased their rates in recent years.

Dentists also cite administrative frustrations dealing with the Medicaid bureaucracy and the difficulties of serving poor, often transient patients, a study by the state legislatures conference found.

"Whatever we've got is broke," Fridley said. "It has nothing to do with access to care for these children."

This event occurred last February. Here is the update.

Who Do We Hate?

2007-09-10T02:41:00.000-07:00

Need I say more? This noose was hung at the University of Maryland campus, and it took the entire week before it was taken down.

She's Now A Wrinkle In Time

2007-09-10T02:25:00.000-07:00

I was ten years old when I first found her book in our school library, took it home, curled up in bed and became transported in time and space. The author of the wonderful book was Madeline L'Engle, who passed away at the 88 this past weekend. Rest in peace Ms. L'Engle. Here is a tribute from someone who knew her as a teacher.

Where Are We?

2007-09-07T03:57:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here watching one of the morning news shows and at the end of the program, as they transfer over the the Today show, they have a segment on their coming expanded show, so now there will be four hours of Today. Not a problem as I don't watch them beyond a certain point. Apparently they have added a fourth person for this new hour, a Ms. Hotb. O.k., with the exception of the weatherman, who is black, this is a lily white show, and I suppose this shouldn't bother me really, but it does. Where is the inclusion of sisters? If they could find all these white women, couldn't they find an experienced sister to add to the show. Yes, I know what they would say, that Ms. Hotb is an ethnic minority, but as far as I'm concerned they see her as white, as one of them, so she's not a minority in their eyes.

To me, this is just a reminder that while we have come a long way, we have so much farther to go. Our work is not done and yet we have dropped the ball. That is only part of the story, because to be sure the other part of it has to do with racism. I wonder how many sisters went to that studio for an audition, hoping to get a plum like that, yet knowing they wouldn't even be offered the job? How many brothers went for one of those interviews? This is one of the problems our culture is having at this point in time. Too many of those who "run things" think that blacks have everything they need, all the rights Dr. King won for us through the civil rights movement, but this train of thought is dead wrong. A simple thing like what I just wrote about shows us that this is not so. We haven't come nearly far enough and there is much work to do.

I'm trying to read as many African American blogs as I can, and this weekend I have decided to work on seeking out and adding some of those blogs to a blogroll in my side bar. Some of these bloggers express an interest in trying to create not only and agenda, but also becoming a force to be reckoned with, but I'm not seeing it at this point in time. I don't know what the protocol is for inviting others to read your blog, but I intend to try and find out. I did invite one blogger to come read my efforts and you see where that got me! I've tried everything I could to get my little blog out there and will keep trying, but I still want to know what's on the agenda for other bloggers and just how they think to grow a movement like that of dkos if they aren't willing to try and pull in the readers and other bloggers.

I believe that like the creator of dkos, black bloggers could make a world of difference if they banded together and made their voices heard, if they had a cohesive agenda. This is the only way in which this can be done. I don't know if we can make a difference in this election, but certainly on the local level we can make a difference with our efforts. But we must all be in support of each other, constantly reading each other, and in communication with each other through our blogs. It can be done.

TOPS ON THE AGENDA:EDUCATION

2007-09-04T05:04:00.000-07:00

This is a story I first heard some months ago, and it is one of the reasons we must keep our eye on the prize of education. Our children remain some of the most under educated in America, along with Hispanics and Native Americans. We need to refocus our efforts on getting our children educated so that they are not left behind in this new millennium, and we need to make sure that they have more options than trying to pin their hopes on the traditional pursuits of entertainment and sports, categories that don't have room for everyone, and for which everyone is not suited. There are more who don't make it in these categories than those who do. In any case, our children need to have an education to fall back on, no matter what they hope to achieve, they can better achieve their dreams with an education behind them. You can read the story of 15 year old Britney Exline here, at msnbc.

Happy Sad Anniversary, New Orleans

2007-08-29T16:08:00.000-07:00

From start to miserable finish, it was a disaster of major proportions, a category 5 hurricane, the likes of which had rarely been seen in this country. We were watching this thing on television, seeing it roil its' way toward the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi, all the while the president did nothing, nor did FEMA, the office which should have had it's finger on this problem from the very beginning. Instead, all we got was "Brownie", Michael Brown, a man who had no experience whatsoever in the running of an agency of the magnitude of FEMA. In fact, this man was working for a horse organization before coming to FEMA. and for the most part did not have too much experience doing anything else, see his wiki. Now we have Michael "Skull & Crossbones" Chertoff, he of the high, girlish voice, who has done nothing during his tenure with FEMA. And get this, he's being considered for office of attorney general, in place of Alberto "Schultzie" Gonzales! Insult to injury, salt on the wound.

When I think about Katrina it feels somewhat akin to thinking about slavery, almost like what I call an ache gene, one with pictures I don't want to look at because they hurt so bad, historical pictures burned and seared in the soul, images your mind bounces off of because you just can't bear to look at them. Today, August 29, 2007, marks the two year anniversary of hurricane Katrina, a force of nature which devastated New Orleans and Mississippi, tearing apart the lives of the folks who lived there. Many of them poor black folks. George Bush went to New Orleans for the anniversary. From here on out, as of today, I simply refuse to call that man president, because he is not and never was. Since the vote was not properly counted, was not allowed to be properly counted, then the man is not president. Why did he visit New Orleans if he didn't have any money? If he wasn't going to help the people with some form of true recovery? Possibly he came to welcome the "immigrants" who over flow the city, looking for the jobs which should go to the people of the community who remain. Those jobs and any training belongs to those who rightfully lived in New Orleans, and who should have been brought back to take over the task of rebuilding the community, but no, "immigrants" were allowed in instead, and it is they who are now repopulating some of the communities.

George Bush visited, and once again, nothing will be done for the survivors of katrina. Like the war in Iraq, Bush is leaving this mess for the next administration to clean up, only if they are republicans New Orleans will never come back with their help. They will have to make it on their own, as this is what the republicans believe in, states making it on their own, without the help of the feds. Without the help of a republican led government. It doesn't matter if he does say he came to bring help, once he comes back to Washington that promise will all but be forgotten as he turns his attention to getting $50 billion more for that war of his.

The day is over now, so Bush has either slunk, or will slink, back to that hell hole he has made of the White House, having freaked everything else up. These are the last days of "Chuckie" Rove, architect of the greatest messed up eight years of a creep in the people's house, having rode in on a moral majority, and riding out on a moral morass. Happy anniversary, New Orleans, please try to wait it out until we vote those pigs out, then we'll begin the process of making it right.

Why The MSM Knows We Hate Them

2007-08-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

Once again the main stream media has deliberately come out with a quote from someone from one of the democratic candidates associates, more to point, one of their wives, which was totally wrong and used as a weapon at one of the other candidates and her husband. Michelle Obama gave a speech in which she talked about having your house in order. That is the part of the quote the msm used, out of context, without playing or even speaking the rest of the quote, making it seem as if Obama was pointing fingers at Clinton for her husband and his infidelity(s).
The quote is as follows from Media Matters;

Indeed, as Media Matters has noted, after stating, "Our view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House," Michelle Obama continued: "[S]o we've adjusted our schedules to make sure that our girls are first, so while he's [Barack Obama] traveling around, I do day trips" in order to be "home before bedtime." Marc Ambinder, associate editor of The Atlantic, wrote that one "recurring theme of her stump speech" is "the hard choices she and Sen. Obama have had to make about their work/family balance." The Obama campaign has since denied that Michelle Obama was attacking Clinton in her remarks.

If you click on Media Matters you will be taken to their site for what counts. Why do the republicans think they can be trusted about anything when they can't be trusted not to try and cheat the country into another lame and tired ass excuse of an administration? Their policies have not done the country any good, and as is seen with what's being done with the toy manufacturing industry in China, along with the dog food and any other poisoned items exported from that country to our shores, they don't really care about their constituents at all. As a matter of fact, don't you ever wonder who really hates America?

Stop Snitchin' Cartoon; Do We Have A Problem Here?

2007-08-21T22:37:00.001-07:00

This cartoon, was done by this cartoonist,

but you can also read his take on it here. Now, I agree that he could have done much better to have left some stuff out of the cartoon and he would have gotten a different reaction. I happen to agree with the basis of his cartoon editorial, but, as you know, we as black folks don't like having our dirty laundry aired. I sometimes disagree with this tact because every now and then it takes whites meddling in our business to make us either get it right or begin the process of tackling the problem in the first place.

Soulful Singer John Lucien Dies

2007-08-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

Sad news to report today. The web site of Jon Lucien has indicated that the longtime soul crooner has died at age 65. The notice indicates:

JON LUCIEN DIED ON THE MORNING OF AUGUST 18, 2007 OF RESPIRATORY FAILURE and OTHER COMPLICATIONS. JON WAS ONE THE MOST REMARKABLE MUSICIANS, SONGWRITERS and SONG INTERPRETERS THAT GRACED OUR LIVES

REST IN PEACE
JON LUCIEN - JAN 8, 1942 to AUGUST 18, 2007

Soul Tracks

Petey Greene's Washington

2007-08-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

Petey Green was a beloved institution here in Washington from the 60's to the early 80's, who was the subject of the recent movie Talk To Me. Of course movies are never real portrayals of the subjects they depict, but I didn't know how far off the depiction of Greene would be. I didn't know that his grave went unmarked all these years. Greene passed in 1984. I'm not surprised at this turn of events, especially since Greene wasn't known outside the confines of D. C.. I'm hardly surprised though, as this is the way these things usually turn out. Read more here.

Why A Hot Ghetto Mess?

2007-08-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

This is a wonderful story from the pages of the New York Times here, and it makes me wonder about the sister who did Hot Ghetto Mess. Mind you, I have never seen any of "the mess", and I don't want to, but it does make you wonder what that sister was thinking about when she thought it up. With so many negative stories out there about black people and the community, why couldn't she have thought up a series on the better side of black life, positive stories, such as this one where the people are actually making their lives work? There was also a story on snitching, via the Washington Post, that didn't make me necessarily understand this phenomenon any better, especially at the end of the piece. I just didn't quite understand just what he was advocating at the end of the piece, but I do laud him on the work he is currently doing. I also saw a piece on a woman who is helping inner city youths by training them to train dogs to help the disabled. The child stated that the program had saved him from going down the wrong path and that he wanted to continue the work he was doing. There are so many negative images out there in the world for our people and our youth to see, why not counteract that with some of the more positive stories that we know exist? I don't know exactly what this sister thought she was out to prove, but most of the people in her mess are not going to see themselves, get cleaned up and go straight or whatever. Most of them will probably tell their friends they were on Hot Ghetto Mess and let them know when their 15 seconds of lame will be on so they can watch.
There is also a wonder slide show from the New York Times story, here.

Dream A Little Dream...

2007-08-15T18:07:00.000-07:00

When I was a little girl I dreamed of being many things, as all children do, a nurse, a librarian, a singer, oh, many things I suppose. In real life I finally became a social worker of all things, and I must say I was suited for it, for the most part. Children need to have dreams, to aspire to something, to show them the possibilities of what they can be, who they be. They need dreams to lead them to a larger world beyond the confines of the ones in which they may live, they need to know that there are more places to travel than they ever imagined. They need to dream of going to college, gaining more experiences, of changing the world, the one in which they live and the greater world around them. They need to know that we are counting on them to become the dreamers and leaders of tomorrow.

We as adults, need to begin encouraging our children to dream more, to see that they can change the world, and in order to do that we need to place the tools in their hands with which to do so. We need to encourage them to read more, books, periodicals, and news papers. A book in a child's hands is truly a gift. It opens up worlds where they might become almost anything they wish, from dog catcher to space explorer. I must say at this point that while I don't believe in much television for children, I am a fan of Star Trek. I watched the show in it's original run, and that show boldly went where no show had gone before. Not only was it multicultural, it had two female characters who were there for the duration of the show. One of them happened to be a black woman, Nichele Nichols, who portrayed Lt. Uhura, communications officer. Oh, there were others, I know, but they were not this ultra cool sister in space, who you thought had to have a lot of brains and command a lot of respect just to get there.

Still, I advocate putting books in the hands of our children. Not only are they a way to give children the time out to imagine and dream, they boost their vocabulary as well as other skills. A child who learns to read and has a book will always have something to do, not matter where they are. A book can always be hauled around with them, carried anywhere they go. We can always be thankful to Gene Rodenberry for including not just Nichele, but quite a few other African Americans portrayed as brilliant scientists, for including us in the dream when so few wanted us there. Dr. King had a dream, and it's time that we help our children realize the rest of his legacy, of educating them, giving them a dream to go by, and while they may never achieve the first dreams they have, one dream leads to another and another, until they finally achieve the dream they were meant to have.

Happy Macaca Day!

2007-08-15T00:10:00.000-07:00

"This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is......
that is a George Allen moment, when he ended his run for the senate, sorry mutt.

War Paint

2007-08-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

Women love war paint, as my father used to call it, and that's no lie. We love to color ourselves up, our hair, our faces, lipstick, nail polish, even our clothing can be considered war paint these days. I know I have a love of bright, vibrant, even garish colors, but I resist those, for the most part. We generally color ourselves because it makes us look good, done right, it's fun, especially when we're little girls, smearing our faces and crookedly painting our nails from our mom's dresser, or to attract those people called men. Many's the time I've laid a lipsticked smile on some man, knowing the reaction I'd get. I admit it, it's fun.

These last few years though, the tables have been turned and it's men who are slathering on the war paint, mostly in the form of lies, half truths, and stories made up from the whole cloth to suit their needs and purposes. A new term was created out of this painting, swift boating, used to paint and tarnish any and every democrat who crossed the paths of the painters, mainly republicans. They grew viciously good with their paint brushes too, knowing the make up of the audience they were playing to. Those wonderful, evangelical, value voters, and soccer moms. Oh, and the Nascar dads too, lest they be forgotten.

John Kerry was painted with several brushes. His war record was questioned by those swift boaters, who themselves were mainly discredited because they had not served with Kerry. He was also painted with that religious brush, he was not catholic enough. How much catholic is catholic enough, and how do you prove that you are? Then, too, when he went wind surfing, he was painted with the money brush. John Kerry was too rich, he had married the Heinz catchup heiress, so now he was mega wealthy, and so could not understand the needs of the poor and under served in this country.

Some others? John Edwards paid $400.00 for a hair cut. He's an attractive man with nice hair. They never stopped to say that possibly many other pols do the same thing, fly their barber to them to do their hair for a shoot or something that day, and possibly for more money than that. He was painted as the Breck girl of old. Barack Obama has been painted with so many different paints it's hard to even know where to begin scraping, but the current paint brush is enough, and it's covered with black paint, or no black paint, according to the question, is Obama black enough. The tar brush, they used to call it. Hillary Clinton is being painted too, which is what led me to this piece. Of course, before it's all over there will be many more paint jobs making you wonder if you can ever get to the real layer. I started out believing some of those paint jobs until I began to examine them. The paint used on Clinton was that she was too cold, to calculating, i.e., too damned smart. Al Gore got the same paint job, being too smart and boring, and after all, who wants a smart president?

That wunderkind, Karl Rove left a parting can of paint for Clinton, which means that he will surely return to finish the paint job. The color of the can of paint he has for Hillary? Fatally Flawed. Ohhh, will it be my favorite color, crimson red, plum, fuchsia? What's on the label of that can of paint, what are the ingredients, lesbian, butch, dyke, femme Nazi? Cold, unfeeling, calculating? TOO INTELLIGENT? God forbid! Oh no, not religious enough! It's in the fine print.

Karl Rove has exited, stage right, but it's going to be very interesting what he finds when he goes shopping at RepthugDepot, what kinds of cans of paint will he find on the shelves; TarBaby Black? CrimsomLesbo Red? Madrassa Indigo? PrettyPrettyBabyBoy White? Labels. Got to read those labels you know, and check out the store those paints came from. If they came from RethugDepot throw 'em back on the deliveryman.

Should We Have An Agenda?

2007-08-14T01:09:00.000-07:00

I think one of the reasons none of the parties pays attention to the African American communities of late is the fact that they think that we have "made it" as it were. Dr. King was assassinated before he could begin the next leg of his journey, and with that we were left with nothing. Perhaps that is the point where we should begin again, where his legacy left off. As I see, from reading some of the fine African American blogs, I am beginning to discover, and of course, as I know from daily life, crime in our communities is one of the biggest subjects we have to tackle. Education would be tops on my agenda. Too many of our young people are either rotting in the prisons of this country, or they're dead. From being shot by the police, or black on black crime. With primaries coming up next year, surely it's not too late to put together an agenda of what's important to the black community, and surely, within the next three to four years, those of us in the black blogging community should be ready to meet like YearlyKos, and be ready to present our own agenda to those who would have our vote? Shouldn't we? We should, we can, we must. We don't have an option not to.

Snowball Resigns

2007-08-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

Incredible as it seems, the resignation of Karl Rove does not make me happy. So much damage has been done to this country and in the name of this country, that there is no joy in this announcement. David Gergen had the nerve to state that so much good had been done by this man that he would be missed. What slop. I just wish that he would take Skippy and company with him.

Am I Black Enough For You?

2007-08-13T00:52:00.000-07:00

This last week has brought a number of pundits questioning the "blackness" of at least two of our presidential candidates, on "black", the other white. That wonderful right wing pundit, Tucker Carlson, started the debate off. Mr. Carlson started off by saying that he felt uncomfortable discussing the blackness of others, nevertheless, he waded into said debate with a white female journalist and a white male journalist. There were no blacks there to defend their "blackness." You can watch that discussion here. The hit MSNBC TV, select Tucker and Obama's "blackness" questioned.

NPR's Michele Martin had a different take on the story, on which involved a forum of black journalists during the association's convention of the National Black Journalist Association, which also included questions and responses from the audience. I don't know about you, but I for one, do not want my blackness, or anyone else's defined by whites. For too long whites have defined who and what we are and this has to stop. Carlson defining what is and is not blackness is nothing more than code to the whites out there in wing nut land that hey, watch out because this man might be too black for you, no matter what he says. The question of blackness was also asked by Suzanne Malvo, wearer of Kabuki makeup(real pancake white makeup) so that you couldn't actually tell her race. (I only discovered she was black by studying her hair line.) Although Michel's discussion is an hour long it was well worth the hour, and can be found here. Malvo asked this question of former first lady Hillary Clinton, and there were just too many questions within that question to even chase after.