Change of heart perhaps.

I truly had no desire to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty at all. For one thing, I am no Ben Stiller fan. I find him to be a mediocre talent at best. He's done nothing in the world of entertainment that I can point to and say, "That movie is the only one I like with him in it." I can't do that at all with his body of work, and his body of work is extensive (and yes that includes Tropic Thunder). I see him and Adam Sandler as one and the same but at least with Adam I can point to Punch Drunk Love as the one movie in which I don't despise when looking at him on the screen.

However, after seeing the video I have attached I may actually go check it out. It's got nothing to do with Ben Stiller, and maybe everything to do with Ben Stiller. Walter Mitty has been a passion project of Ben's, he's been trying to get it done for years, it's his baby. He's not only starring in it, but he directed it as well so he pushed all his chips to the middle of the table and went all in. I respect such bold moves but the boldest one of all was made by the studio. Take a look.




Because of that video, I may actually see a Ben Stiller movie...IN THE THEATER!!! Way to go Casey Neistat and 20th Century Fox for helping those that needed help. Now if more of this kind of thing could happen, what a wonderful world this could be. I'll see you on line I guess :)

Some of this shit you just can't make up.

This world never has and never will cease to keep me amazed. Honestly, some of the shit I have run into that people have done over the years simply pales in comparison to the things they've done since Barack Hussein Obama has taken office as the President. I have always said that money reveals who a persons true colors, and I still believe that. It appears however that there is one other thing that reveals ones true self, maybe even more than landing a windfall and that's race.

Race, especially the Presidents race has seemingly brought out the crazies in such numbers it feels like the zombie apocalypse. Scores upon scores of people have emerged out from under their rocks and bridges and have let their true feelings be known about the first Black President. Now while I don't like the comments made about the President, the most disrespected President this country has ever had, what's worse is when those with some small sense of power let their racist flag unfurl in the winds alongside all the others.

There have been members of the legislative branch that have called for the impeachment of the President, called him a liar in front of millions on TV, and have chosen to simply not do anything that would make him look good in the eyes of Americans, going so far as to shut the government down. All of that though is mere peanuts compared to when a NY Cop posts something like this on his facebook page.

"Coon Trapper" has a badge and a gun and is, well was allowed to dispense the law in the great state of NY. He has since been put on administrative leave pending the outcome of the internal investigation. What they are investigating is beyond me, but I suspect they have protocols they must follow but it makes me wonder how Mr. "Coon Trapper" felt about the Black people he encountered on his job, you know, the ones he was sworn to "protect and serve". Below is the link to the original article. You just can't make this shit up.

Coon Trapper

Tim does it...again.

If I were to ever adopt someone Caucasian to be a hero of mine, or if someone asked me if there were ever a white man I could point to and say I was proud of, it would have to be the writer, essayist, and lecturer Tim Wise.

Tim Wise, in all the years since I've become aware of the man has told such searing truth that I couldn't help but become a fan. He speaks so matter-of-factly about racial issues and the inequities Blacks have had to endure while living in this country that I have often worried for his life. He gives you nothing candy or sugar coated, it's the unvarnished and unprocessed truth that everyone should hear, and he has done it again. Click on the link below to see why I am a fan of Mr. Wise, and why his last name is amazingly appropriate.

Tim does it again! 

The Rappin' Prez

When I saw this I actually laughed out loud for two reasons. One, I thought it was funny as hell and two, Karl Rove was offended by it and anything Rove is offended by is good for my health. Health is what this spoof is all about, the President rapping over Snoop Dogg's (is it Dogg or Lion, I can't remember) track Drop It Like it's Hot and honestly, the pres can do the damn thing.



And if you want to know why Karl found this offensive, click the link below.

Karl Rove is upset!

Calm down everyone, she was just joking.

Hey John, did you hear? Megyn Kelly was just being funny and messing around with the kids when she cited that Santa was white. She said she was making a funny and that everyone who didn't get that was humorless. So I guess we can all calm down now and breathe a sigh of relief that Megyn isn't nearly as racist as she made herself look when she was being "funny".

I mean, what else could she say in her defense honestly? She HAD to say that she wasn't serious about a mythical fat man in a red suit who supposedly delivers toys all over the world from a giant flying sleigh pulled by eight flying reindeer. If she didn't then we would all have to worry about her mental state. Now her defense did fail to acknowledge her comment of "just because it makes you uncomfortable, doesn't mean in should change". Her "lighthearted" segment and her "tongue in cheek" comments certainly didn't come off as her joking, but I guess that's because we just don't really know her and her sense of humor. I guess everyone that took comments to heart as to how she really feels are the humorless dregs she mentioned.

She then goes on to make herself out to be the victim, as if she were clueless how sensitive the topic of race is in this country. I am completely mystified over the fact that a supposed news anchor was completely unaware how her comments where she states unequivocally that Jesus and Santa are white and how that's a "verifiable fact" weren't going to be seen as racist. She then proceeds to throw Aisha Harris under the bus claiming she was just repeating what Aisha wrote in her Slate.com piece. Poor Megyn, the whole world of the big bad left came knocking on her door and called her names when she was just joking (place pouty face here).

Check out the link below. That is what she said in defense of herself. Grab some tissues.

Megyn tries to remove foot from mouth.

Maybe next time Ms. Kelly won't be so quick to joke about race when talking to the "kids" who are watching her on Fox News.

John lets Megyn have it.

There is no need to embellish on this, it speaks for itself. It's so hilarious that I had to blog it. After the crap Megyn Kelly had the nerve to say on the air, it was going to be just a matter of time before John Stewart jumped in her lily white ass about it.

Thanks John, you made my day. Keep up the good work.

Rest In Peace Madiba

Today I finally cried over your passing. I think I was too in shock to let the emotion of your death touch me, today though it happened. Your gentle soul and warm smile will be missed by millions you have touched. Almost single-handedly you saved your beloved South Africa after being released from prison for no reason other than wanting equal rights for you, your family, and your people for twenty seven years.

All my icons are dead now, you were the last of them and I will miss you more than I have the words to convey. Thank you for showing me a different way, thank you for your courage and your infinite grace, thank you for your fighting spirit, thank you for being you.

Rest in peace Madiba, for you have surely earned it.

This song is by British musician Johnny Clegg called "Asimbonanga," which was written in the 1980s calling for Mandela's release from prison.

       

"Jesus was a white man too...it's a verifiable fact"

The headline of this post actually fell out of the mouth of Megyn Kelly from Fox News. She literally said that Jesus was a white man when talking about Santa being white. This conversation was sparked when an article on Slate.com by Aisha Harris, an African American woman states that Santa shouldn't be white and how painful it was for her having to deal with a white Santa.

Megyn had a decent debate going until she got to the "Jesus was a  white man too". That made her sound like a complete idiot and she's not, not really. Most of the time Megyn Kelly sounds like she knows what she's talking about, just not this time. I have repeatedly said I am not a religious man, never have been, never will be and yet even I know that Jesus was a copper colored man with hair like lambs wool. That doesn't sound white to me, that sounds like a man that was born in the Middle East some 2000+ years ago. That sounds to me that Megyn needs to read her Bible before making such asinine statements.

Now we all know Fox is the worldwide headquarters for fear mongering, and hateful idiots and those small minded people that buy into the crap they are shoveling and who don't mind being lied to on a regular basis. This crap though, it just really takes the cake. Take a look...

Megyn puts her foot in her mouth.

Now I think a perfect Christmas gift for Megyn would be a new Bible. Let's hope the fat white guy in the big red suit and flying reindeer can hook her up.

So here's to the 2nd Amendment

I swear, the person who said, "you learn something new everyday" must have been a damn genius because today, I definitely learned something new. I learned something no one has ever brought to my doorstep in all my years, and I've lived a few years. What I learned today was so shocking to me that I felt the need to share it on my blog. The few of you that read my blog may already know about this thing I feel compelled to share, you may have known this all along but I didn't, so bear with me.

Today I found out that the 2nd Amendment had nothing to do with protecting ones liberty or from ones government infringing on their "God given" rights. No sir, it's none of that patriotic bullshit the NRA and it's supporters want you to believe. No ma'am, it has nothing to do with protecting ones family or forming a militia to protect Americans from some unseen enemy be they foreign or domestic. The reality behind the drafting of the 2nd Amendment was so white men could protect themselves from their slaves.

Yes, the 2nd Amendment was written to allow people to arm themselves against the very same people they were subjugating. Which means they knew what they were doing could possibly come back and hurt them, so they wrote something into law that would allow them to arm themselves from their "property".

The Cause for the 2nd Amendment!

Now with all the research I have done on the history of my people, with all the books I have read and documentaries I have seen, I never knew this. Right wing gun fanatics and 2nd Amendment supporters are either unaware of this fact or they have chosen to NOT speak on it. I'm going with the latter though those rifle toting idiots with the gun racks in their trucks probably don't really have a clue. Much like I didn't, but unlike those jack rabbits I educated myself, I learned.

To all those gun supporters who cite the 2nd Amendment as their reason for owning a firearm or assault rifle, you are citing an amendment that was written to keep slaves or freed people of color in line. I think it's best you just admit that you like guns, you think they're pretty, and you like the loud noises they make. You may sound like a dumb child, but at least you won't sound like a racist.

Africans in America

This series on PBS has been not just upsetting but eye opening, it's also been profoundly educational. I am posting this series on my blog not just for others to have a place where they can see it, but for me to be able to see at my leisure without having to look for it myself.

The Slave Narratives

This is the one thing EVERY Black person in this country needs to see. It's is the one thing every Black man, woman, and child needs to see and then they need to find a way to preserve it and pass it down to the next generation and they should pass it down to the one that follows them.

If that was done then maybe we would stop using the N word, we would stop acting a fool on some white mans talk show, maybe we would stop having to figure out that nonsense of "who the baby daddy is", maybe we would finally recover our fucking dignity.

The Slave Narratives always touches me deeply no matter how many times I see it. I like it for various reasons. One is the fact that it brings back Ossie Davis to me and when he and Ruby Dee appear, I can't help but smile. The other is due to the education the Narratives offers up. To see the treatment my people went through during those insane times chills me to the bone and rocks me to my soul.

This needs to be seen, it needs to be heard. Over and over and over again...

The Black Tax

Never have I ever heard The Black Tax explained as well as I did when Chris Rock broke down his community and who his neighbor was. It was so funny, real, and tragic all at the same time. It clearly illustrated just how disproportionately the divide is between Black people and white people. We have to practically be world re-known in a particular field in order to live next door to say a plumber in a nice area.

When I blogged how there was no "white privilege", that there was just privilege and mentioned that situation with the white cop arresting Henry Louis Gates Jr. for trying to get into his own house. The police were called by a neighbor of Gates' that saw two Black men struggling to get into a house this neighbor did not know belonged to one of those Black men, (his driver who was also Black was trying to help him get into his house). I mentioned how that one situation allowed a world famous Black historian and intellectual and a no name white cop to sit down and have a beer with the leader of the free world. Two world famous Black men and a no name white cop having a beer is the EPITOME of the Black Tax.

For those that are unaware of this Black Tax I will break it down as best I can. The Tax simply indicates how much better we have to be than white people to just draw even. Black people have to exceed ridiculous expectations, work at least twice as hard, earn at least twice as much, and reach the summits of their chosen professions just to be able to live next door to a dentist...

In Chris' words.

At the 3:05 mark Chris begins to break it down to the lowest common denominator. I love him for his honesty because I couldn't agree more.

Three Fifths

Do you know what the title of this post represents? Do you know what it means, where it came from, who created it, and why? If you don't then you need to bone up on your history dudes and dudettes, for real. For it is inexcusable to not know about 3/5's and what that encompasses. See, to me "three fifths" is almost as evil and vile as the N word. Scratch that, it IS as evil and vile as the N word, those two terms aren't cousins, they're brothers. The only difference is the N word is the popular brother whereas "three fifths" walks in it's shadow.

Ask someone if they think the N word is funny or offensive to them and you'll get a myriad of answers from, "Hell yeah, that word is hellafunny", to "I don't find it funny, but it doesn't bother me", to "I find it offensive and if you say it again I'll break your nose". Ask someone if they know what "three fifths" means and if it's funny, more than likely depending on the person asked you'll get looked at like you've just grown another head. Ask someone of my grandfathers generation though and they will break it down for you and then let you know that no, it is not fucking funny.

3/5's was the distinction given to slaves letting them know they were "three fifths" a man, for counting purposes. This was taken from the African American Registry website...

"The issue of how to count slaves split the delegates into two groups. The northerners regarded slaves as property who should receive no representation. Southerners demanded that Blacks be counted with whites. The compromise clearly reflected the strength of the pro-slavery forces at the convention. The “Three-fifths Compromise” allowed a state to count three fifths of each Black person in determining political representation in the House. Rather than halting or slowing the importation of slaves in the south, slavery had been given a new life — a political life. Even when the law stopped the importing of new slaves in 1808, the south continued to increase its overall political status and electoral votes by adding and breeding slaves illegally. The Three-fifths Compromise would not be challenged again until the Dred Scott case in 1856."

So basically slaves were counted as three fifths a man, not a whole man. In order to get a whole man you would have to count a few slaves. So when I hear that some white boys thought that calling their African American roommate 3/5's and it's brother the N word would be funny or that it was just jokes it makes me want to first rip their heads off. Then I cool down and begin to wonder what these white kids parents are like and what kind of house these little wet behind the ears, don't know a thing racists grew up in. If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a look...

For shits and giggles...in cuffs

Maybe this will be a teachable moment for these white boys. Maybe they will learn their lessons and realize crap like this isn't funny, that it never has been, and it never will be. Maybe they will emerge on the other side of this as better men. Who the hell am I kidding, those fucktards won't learn a damn thing for this is America, still the land of the white and the home of the slave.

The Most Disgusting Thing Ever!

This is without a doubt, the most disturbing and by far the most disgusting thing I have seen in a very long time. It's so nasty and vile that I can barely wrap my head around it. People walk around and talk about how the holidays are a time for sharing and giving and I actually agree with them. I have always believed this time of year is when you give more than you've given at any other time of the year. Because giving at this time could actually save a life. The holidays can be rough on people who don't have. Maybe they don't have a place to call their own, maybe they don't have the opportunity to get a hot meal, and maybe that don't have anyone to share the holidays with.

I have been aware of this since I can remember, giving to those that don't have is how I was raised to be. Admittedly I have slacked off in my giving to others because my family has needed me to give more to them than I ever have before, but I am still giving. Me, someone with nothing asked to give more and I do so, happily. So when I came across this story my head exploded and rage filled me because it is the most vile thing ever. Let me explain...

Wal-Mart, that multi-billion dollar a year company who is against raising their "associates" pay or offer them health care has a store somewhere in Ohio that has come up with a wonderful way of admitting that they know they aren't paying their people enough money to live on. I don't think they meant for that message to ever be revealed in the first place, but especially not like this.

Wal-Mart's All New Low

Stephen Colbert's Comments on Wal-Mart

That's right, Wal-Mart, that multi-billion dollar a year earning corporation has one of its stores openly admitting that they know their "associates" aren't being paid enough so they are asking people to help feed their less fortunate workers. Basically they want the poor to help the poor while the rich sit on their hands and do nothing. It's almost cannibalistic in a way, those that don't have need to share what they don't have with those that have even less. I am not a religious man, gave no thought on heaven or hell and didn't really care if one or both existed, now I do. Now I hope beyond hope that there IS a hell and in that hell I hope their is a spot reserved for the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune. For they need to burn forever and a day because this, THIS is without a doubt the most disgusting thing ever.

The Jingle of Keys

How often do we take for granted the jingle of keys in our pockets or pocketbooks? How often do we misplace those keys, thinking we put them here when they are actually over there? I know I've done it. I've even gone so far as to leave my keys in the front door lock, hey it happens. It's funny but when you've had keys all your life you can almost forget their worth, their value. Yes they open up doors to where you house and store your belongings, they unlock your car, and they give you access to a myriad of other places depending on just how man keys you have on your key chain. I think sometimes though that keys can be taken for granted, that is until you lose them. Then you realize just how valuable, just how important those keys are.

Keys denote ownership, even if just for a few days. They say to you that you have a place in this world that you can call your own. That you have a place to escape the elements, a place to rest your head, to cook and eat a meal, or to just get away from it all. What strikes me about keys though is how many of us, Americans don't have any keys. The number of homeless people in this nation is large and it's growing. These are people who don't have any keys to any place that they can call theirs. They are dependent on shelters to rest their heads, to escape the elements, to try and relax. America is the wealthiest nation in the world and the fact that we have a growing number of homeless people should shame us all. Especially when the majority of them would kill to hear the jingle of keys in their pockets.

 

War On Racism!

One is needed. An all out "I DECLARE WAR ON RACISM" is needed on every level in this country. Think about it, we have wars on everything from drugs to hunger to obesity in this country. We have a war on poverty and a war on women's rights. We also have a war on voters rights and gun rights. Now while I think all those battles are worthy of attention they are getting from people and the media, the most important war this country needs to wage is a war on racism.

There needs to be a Congressional committee and a sub committee, an investigative committee, and a Racism Czar appointed to get to the bottom of the racial divide in this country. I mean honestly, we all know what the cause is, but it seems that far too many people have chosen to bury their heads in the sand about it. But it's the burying of the heads that has lead to far too many young, unarmed Black men and women being murdered in this country. Their should be a day of outrage, of protests, and demands for a war on racism. Is there any war more important?

And I'm not just talking about racism between whites and Blacks mind you, I'm also talking about the racism that exists between light skinned Blacks and dark skinned Blacks. The racism that exists between light skinned Latinos and dark skinned Latinos. I'm talking about it ALL! Why, because it all needs to be dealt with.

I loved how ex New York City Mayor Bloomberg waged wars of the big gulp when this city had so much more larger more pressing issues to deal with. Bloomberg chose to wage war on something he thought contributed to obesity. Forget the racial incidents within the city, he chose to focus on giant soft drinks. I find that both hilarious and sad at the same time. It appears racial harmony isn't something anyone needs to focus on. The whole, "you stay with yours and I'll stay with mine" attitude seems to work for people.

Except when I'm on an elevator alone because the white woman chose not to ride in it with me for some odd reason, I'm guessing it because we aren't of the same racial makeup. Or when I'm sitting on crowded bus or subway and the white people would rather stand than sit next to me, I can only guess it's due to my complexion and not because I didn't shower, because I do. I know this stuff doesn't just happen to me just like I'm sure it just doesn't happen here. I know this kind of crap happens all over this country, which is why war needs to be waged.

WHO'S WITH ME?
    

Renisha McBride, Another Name Added. Updated!!!

I don't know where to even begin with this one, which is probably why it took me so long to get around to blogging about it. I still can't wrap my head around it because it makes no sense and it's just mindless, senseless violence perpetrated on a Black person by a white person. A white person who has yet to even be arrested thanks to the ridiculous "stand your ground" law.

Renisha McBride is yet another name added to the list of what seems to be the new white craze. Shoot a Black person and then scream "stand your ground". It happens so much lately it's almost like a video game or something. This unarmed Black women was in a car accident, she was more likely disoriented, sought help from a white man who then shot her in the face with a shotgun and killed her. Sadly her killer is still walking the streets of Detroit. Her family is demanding justice and answers and neither are forthcoming. Her murder is reminiscent of Johnathan Ferrell, the Black football player from Florida A&M who was shot by a police officer after he was in an accident and also seeking help. It seems the moral of this story is if you are Black, whatever you do, do NOT seek help from a white person because history tells us that there is a greater chance of being killed if you do.

She was just 19 years old, barely started truly living, and because she was on the porch of a house after crashing her car and seeking help, the owner of that house felt he had the right to shoot her dead instead of asking if she needed help. Her murderer has not been arrested nor has his name even been released and the family can only surmise the reason she was killed was because she was Black. She is sadly just another young Black person whose name is added to the list of those murdered for doing nothing other than being Black.

May you rest in peace Renisha, and I hope your killer is brought to justice in whatever manner possible.

Update: It's finally happened, after all this time the man who shot Renisha McBride has been arrested and charged with murder. He is 54 year old Theodore P. Wafer and he initially told police that his weapon discharged accidentally. Then he changed his story and cited self defense but Wayne County Prosecutor didn't buy that. Read more here...

Theodore P. Wafer charged with murder.

12 Years A Slave and Spike

When Spike Lee came out and made his objections known regarding Quentin Tarantino's revenge fantasy film Django Unchained, the master filmmaker was bombarded with cruel and sometimes downright disrespectful comments. From Dick Gregory to Luther Campbell and everyone in-between seemed to have a harsh word for Spike, all because Spike said he had no interest in seeing Tarantino's horrible movie. I honestly couldn't blame him. I saw it on a bootleg DVD because there was no way I was paying to see that.

I hope all the people who thought Spike was wrong, out of line, and felt he shouldn't have judged a movie he hadn't yet seen take their asses to see 12 Years A Slave. Especially those two Negroes I mentioned earlier by name. If they could spend their money on that crap of a movie by Quentin, then they can surely scrape up enough funds to see a film that deals with slavery from a more realistic angle.

This movie, unlike Django is directed by a Black man. Brad Pitt's production company Plan B got the rights to the book and handed it off to acclaimed African American writer John Ridley and tasked him to turn book into screenplay. It was a job well done.  For authenticity, director Steve McQueen turned to award winning writer and historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. to make sure they were getting things right. I wonder if Quentin went that route, probably not.

Yes, most of the cast is English but that's bound to happen when the director is from England. That's right, apparently no American born director wanted to direct this film so it took an Englishman to bring a film about America's ugly history to Americans. Isn't that ironic, or is it just sad? You tell me.

I think everyone should see this movie, like those people who think African Americans should "get over it already", something not ever said aloud to the Jews regarding their treatment at the hands of the Nazis. I especially want the African American youth of today to see it. You know the ones, those that invoke the names of Emmitt Till and Rosa Parks in hip hop songs that disrespect those individuals. Those that wear the confederate flag and see nothing wrong with it, and for those that continue to use the N word and think they can somehow foolishly reclaim the word. Pure ignorance. 12 Years A Slave is a must see for those people because they truly need it. And after they see it they should call a press conference and publicly apologize to Spike Lee. Ya dig? Sho nuff!

Appalling Stats, Beautiful Words, Proud Spirits

When I saw this, I was shocked at the numbers. Granted it's hard to stay on top of every offense that's made against Black people in this country so my ignorance was thrusted in my face when I saw this. I had no idea about the Black male enrollment and the stats of UCLA. To me, UCLA was always John Wooden, Lew Alcindor and the basketball program winning championships. It was Troy Aikman quarterbacking the Bruins football team to Rose Bowl wins. My eyes will no longer be blinded by those halcyon days of UCLA sports teams, now they will forever be more focused on the lack of resources and overt racism shown to it's Black male students who AREN'T bouncing a basketball or rushing for first downs.

UCLA, once believed to be a bastion of diversity, of tolerance, of understanding is anything but and the powers that be behind that institution should be ashamed of themselves. They have a brilliant marketing firm and they do their job excellently because they distract you from the real issue of what's really going on. This video lays the truth out there so vividly, so starkly, and so gracefully that it's hard to be blinded any longer. Their marketing firm is going to have to work harder now.

Fuck Hyndman, PA

Where do I even fucking begin?


There are a lot of people in this country that are truly pissed off that there is a Black man in the white house. A "grassroots" political party sprang up (though it's hard to claim being a grassroots movement when backed by Billionaires like the Koch brothers), Fox News can't seem to get their facts straight about the President and will say any damn thing to scare the hell out of their conservative viewership, no matter how blatantly wrong it is, and the government was shut down by the conservatives. A failed effort to defund "Obamacare" yet again.

It seems that having a half Black, half white man in the white house who is NOT the butler but the leader of the free world has driven some white people completely out of their fucking minds. They argued to be able to use the N word, they started donning blackface (just for Halloween though, according to them), and now there is this.

Straight from the "good" people of Hyndman, PA

I didn't know what to say when I saw that picture and the comments some made on facebook, and I still don't except that the town of Hyndman needs to be drone bombed off the fucking map. I began to wonder if this was worse than the pic of the white kid in blackface pretending to be the fatally wounded Trayvon Martin, I decided they are about equal. The imagery in both pictures are as foul and as incendiary as any picture could possible get.

I am not a religious man, I have pointed that out on this blog before. However, if there is a heaven and a hell once we leave this mortal coil, the men in the pictures mentioned have their spots reserved in that special place in hell. And they are lucky they don't live down the block or around the corner from me, they are lucky they live a few states over in some backwards back woods, redneck area of Pennsylvania and are out of my reach. That is unless someone can give a brother a ride to Hyndman real quick. Anyone? Anyone?

The First Couple of Idiocy

Have you ever heard the quote, "Better to remain silent and be thought of as a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"? Well apparently Kanye West hasn't and he recently removed all doubt that he is indeed a fool of the grandest nature.

In a recent interview on Ryan Sercrest's show, King Idiot proclaimed that he and his new fiance, the one who rose to infamy via a sex tape are more influential the the President and the First Lady. He also railed on about how his lady should be on the cover of Vogue magazine. Now I am no big reader of Vogue admittedly, but from what I understand Vogue is a fashion magazine. Why in the world would they put a woman on the cover who wears as little clothing as possible almost all the damn time? 

King Idiot said this because he feels he and his lady are more influential in the fashion department than the President and Mrs. Obama. When I read this I sort of scratched my head. Did Obama put out a clothing line no one is buying? Is he competing for the same fashion dollars that Kanye's fashion line is aiming for? Does King Idiot even have a fashion line? I'm clueless to the fashion world. I know what I like and what I look good in, and I stick to it. I keep things simple (and relatively inexpensive).

King Idiot also stated that because his fiance can take self pictures of her curvaceous booty and the First Lady can't do the same, then she has to be a better woman. Better than the woman who has focused her keen attention of childhood obesity, military families, encouraging people to grow their own food and so many other things world wide that have helped thousands if not millions in ways one can't even begin to imagine. Yes, Kim is a better woman because she can take better pictures of her hind parts that Michelle Obama can. King Idiot indeed. 

King Idiot

It's one thing to do foolish antics to sell records, and hopefully this interview was all tongue in cheek, but if this idiot was serious then there are no words. I do know this, joke or no joke, this nonsense made the front page of today's New York Daily News. Yes, with all the other BIG issues going on in this world, the New York Daily News put King Idiot on the cover based on his ludicrous comments, and as my mother said it's one thing to be a dumb ass, it's a whole other thing being a Black dumb ass. White dumb asses who make music are never splashed on the front pages because of dumb ass comments, Black dumb asses who make dumb ass comments are. 

I hope King Idiot wises up and realizes that making the front page of a newspaper isn't congratulatory, it's an embarrassing take down.    

Just a question, but did ya'll see this?

Now this in my opinion is on some next level shit. This deserves no quarter given, and no apology in the world can excuse this. This woman, the one in the middle of the two idiots (and the one in blackface happens to be her son) was recently fired from her job over this, but I'm thinking she deserves a harsher penalty, a more vicious reality than just losing her job. Any ideas?

More blackface nonsense, with a twist this time!

Blackface in Modern Times

Honestly, since when don't white folk know that painting their faces to mimic or look like Black people is NOT going to go over well with Black people? Since when did they start thinking that would be a cool and fun idea? Well it's obvious, since we started letting things like that pass without going upside their heads or saying a damn thing about it.

They have been arguing for the past couple of years for their right to use the N word. Why, well because we as Black people still use it. What they don't seem to get is that when we say it, it's ignorant, but when they say it, it's like lighting a stick of dynamite and putting it in their mouths. It's not just ignorant when they say it, it's racial.

Now some have seemed to have moved on from that fight to this bullshit. Olivia Mahon, a 21year old white girl from Australia, apparently "in love" with Africa threw an African themed party and wanted her guests to come dressed in "African themed clothing". While she herself dressed as Queen Cleopatra, many of her guests came dressed like savages and primates, one came cloaked in a KKK costume (because nothing says Africa like the Klan), and some came in blackface including her own parents. Read the article and see the pictures from the party here...

African Themed 21st Birthday Party

Now I know a few Aussies and they are the loveliest people you could ever want to meet, but apparently their country's racial sensitivity just doesn't fucking exist. Now I was wondering if this could be passed off as just not knowing? Could the excuse be made that they are just unaware at just how some people, namely Black people would find this shit offensive? Just when I was about to give little Olivia and her countrymen a break, I thought of the Aboriginal people. Treated much the same way Native Americans were treated here, if you were of Aboriginal descent, you were a second class citizen, even though you and your people lived there well before the British colonized Australia back in 1788. They didn't have the right to an education, they worked for rations, needed government approval to marry, and were forced to live on reservations.

That's in their history, it's in the DNA of Australia and yet little Olivia and her parents saw absolutely nothing wrong with dressing up as "Africans" (complete with blackface), allowing her guests to show up in racially charged outfits, and partying the night away. So on that note, not only do they NOT get a pass, a break, or anything else, I think they all need to be educated on racial insensitivity. OR they should be beaten all upside the head and neck until they understand that some shit regarding other races just won't be tolerated. I don't condone violence but this nonsense deserves going to the extremes.

They Seem To Have Forgotten!

Life is funny sometimes, actually it's not funny, it's tragic. It's tragic to the point of being damn peculiar, which in turn makes us think it's funny. Life has a way of letting it's sibling Time make us forget our tragic pasts. Time, they say heals all wounds. The healing salve is called forgetting. One day you'll wake up and you'll forget all about that boy or girl that broke your heart. You'll forget all about that skiing accident that broke your leg and landed you on crutches for three months. You'll forget all about how you got passed over for that promotion from your job, well not really but you'll live with it (while sending your resume out to any and everyone who can read). And you'll forget all about the time your grandparents or great grandparents generation were hunted down like dogs, rounded up, shuttled off in train cars, and systematically murdered in an operation labeled "The Final Solution".

Time has a funny way of blocking out the bad and letting us forget just how bad we really had it. Take for instant Israel and her inhabitants. It seems they've forgotten how the Nazis killed them and anyone who housed them during WWII. How anyone granting them asylum could have their houses burned to the ground, their businesses destroyed, or worse, have their lives taken for aiding and abetting a Jew.

It seems now that they have their own country and are thriving, thanks in no small part to the U.S. they have forgotten how it feels to flee a place you once called home because of religious persecution, violence, and hatred. It seems they have forgotten all those who risked their lives to save their grandparents and great grandparents from falling into the clutches of the evil Nazi empire. I say this because the video I have attached below clearly states that certain Israelis have not only received financial and military assistance from the U.S., they've also received something the U.S. is known for around the world...racism and bigotry towards Black and brown people.




I can't see me ever visiting this country after seeing the rage on their faces and hearing the hatred in their voices regarding the African immigrants who have washed up on their shores seeking a safe port in the storm. I get enough of that crap here in my own country, why would I give my hard earned dollars to Israel's tourism industry after seeing this? You would think if there was one place someone could go for help, if there was one people that would offer someone a hand, it would be the Jews, but they seem to have forgotten when the shoe was on the other foot. Yeah, life is tragic and time does indeed make you forget.

1 IN 3!!!

I read something recently that for every three Black men in this country, one of the three will inevitably end up behind bars. That is disheartening to put it mildly. To think that 1 out of every 3 Black men will go to prison is to almost think there is something wrong with us. When I hear that statistic I can't help but remember the talks I used to have with the younger kids in my neighborhood, me trying to drop some knowledge on them. I would explain that their going to prison was nothing more than economics, that they are seen as nothing but cattle, something someone somewhere can and will make millions of dollars off their hides.

I would explain that you can't ever allow yourself to get caught up. That if they were going to do their dirt, make sure their dirt didn't get them arrested or be careful of the kind of dirt they were stepping in. Once you are incarcerated, I explained to them, getting a job, finding a place to live, and trying to vote are almost ALL impossibilities. There may be some states where doing those things are a tad bit easier, but in NY State you can forget it. I remember those conversations fondly and now, after reading that not only will 1 in 3 Black men will spend time behind bars, but that the criminal justice system is skewed against us made the bile rise up in the back of my throat.

We as Black men have always understood that us getting a fair shake in the criminal justice system was far fetched, but when I read this...

Rampant discrimination in Criminal Justice system

It just pissed me off on two fronts. The first was that how dare you skew the system to make sure we do more time for lesser or the same crimes committed as white criminals. What kind of devil must you be to think it's okay to sentence Black and brown people to harsher sentences behind bars than their white counterparts? How do you call yourself a person of the court and follower of the law and think this is appropriate? Who led you to believe this was the way it should be? What poison pills did your family or friends feed you when you growing up to think this is the right thing to do to those that don't look like you?

What else pissed me off was my people. Black men refuse to read, educate themselves, and even keep themselves dumb as to not appear "white". All my life I've heard, "you sound white" or "you talk white", and I had to correct them by telling them no one "sounds" white, people sound educated or uneducated, but no one sounds white. Those that have said those things to me have spent time in jail by the way and that disgusts me. Time and time again I have gotten into everything from cordial and respectful conversations to heated debates that bordered on violence about this matter. Why, if we know the system is just waiting for us to fuck up so they can make money off of us, why then do we continue to fuck up? I don't knock anyone's hustle because life is hard, very rarely does it get easier, but there is no retirement plan when you're a drug dealer. There is no 401k, no medical, no dental, and no vision either. We must want to do better to improve ourselves instead of staying where we are, then getting caught, and then improving someone else's bottom line.

1 in 3...that shit just breaks my heart.

They Are At It Again

I haven't posted in awhile because I haven't been feeling very well, it's not because the world has ceased being crazy. We all know that's certainly not the case. It seems the world has been spinning more and more off its axis since my last post and you have to wonder what's at the root of the matter. Maybe it's people being fed a line of edible bullshit by the GOP and believing it's steak. You have to wonder how some of those clowns get re-elected sometimes. Redistricting has helped many of them keep their seats, turning their little fiefdoms into all republican areas so no democrat or independent stands a chance at dethroning them.

Or maybe it's the tea party.

That "grass roots" movement of mostly poor racist white people who have a real problem with a Black man in the White House. They have been screaming how they want to take their country back pretty much since he too the oath of office back in 2008. Back from who has always been the question they have never had the temerity to answer, so I keep asking it. Maybe one day one of them will slip up and tell the truth, that they just don't want a Black man leading them and their country. A war mongering, mass murdering, lying, ex alcoholic and cocaine addict is fine but a Black man is completely out of the question.

Take this big(got) idiot Larry Klayman. the leader of another racist organization known as "Freedom Watch". He had the temerity to say that the President of the United States "bows down to Allah", and how he demands he leave town. Watch and listen for yourself...




With this kind of idiocy riling up the ignorant masses, how can we ever get above the fray and resolve our differences? In this kind of atmosphere, how can we ever move forward when apparently there are still some white people who feel every time the President calls himself a Christian, they believe they are being lied to. The audacity to tell the President to "put the Quran down", and "leave town."

Well, Mr. Klayman while I am most certain there is a Quran in the White House, just like I'm sure there is a Bible as well, I doubt it belongs to President Obama. Just like I doubt he'll be leaving town before his second term as President of this fractured country comes to an end. So why don't you go back home to the rock you crawled out from under and wait for another two years.  

WTF Were They Thinking?

For a very long time now I have always felt that the one most damaging things that has ever happened to Blacks in this country was the integration of the schools. Some have agreed with me strongly and others have vehemently opposed my views, and while I have respected their opinions on the matter, I have not and will not change my tune.

I think removing young Black boys and girls and placing them in the classrooms of well funded and better equipped schools was a very good thing. Placing them in the hands of teachers who hated them based on the color of their skin was not. Yes, I am well aware of the fact that not every white teacher hated Black people or their Black students, but I believe those teachers were vastly outnumbered by those teachers who did.

Putting those young minds in the hands of those who hated them was one of the most damaging and destructive things ever done to Black people. It gave those that hated us the ability to make us question our self worth at a time when we were at our most impressionable, at the most vulnerable times in our lives. A teacher has amazing powers, everyone knows this, imagine sitting in a classroom where the teacher can't stand the site of you and regards you as inferior just because of the color of your complexion. Imagine that teacher feeling like they were being punished because YOU were placed in their class. Imagine how destructive that teacher could be.

I won't say this particular case in Coatesville, PA is what I'm talking about since the men the video is about aren't teachers, but being on the school board and feeling this way is just as bad, if not worse. It's a disgusting display of hatred by men who should know better, who should be more compassionate since they are the ones involved in making policy the schools in their district must adhere to. However, I also came to realize many moons ago that ignorance knows no bounds and that no matter what age someone is, their ignorance never ages and therefore never changes.


Here is the link to the video.

Do You Remember May 13, 1985?

Do you remember what happened on May 13, 1985? Does that date sound even remotely familiar? Does it ring any bells? If it doesn't I'm not surprised. Most have no idea what that date represents, but that day forever blemished America in my eyes and if you continue reading, it just may do the same for you.

On May 13, 1985 I was sixteen years old and I of course was busy being a teenager. Occupied with all the usual crap teenagers are occupied with. On May 12th I was concerning myself with underage drinking, hanging out with my boys, trying to get laid, thinking I was grown, and remembering where I hid my mothers Mother's Day gift. On May 13th, all of that went out the window, for that was the day the powers that be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania lost their minds. That was the day authorities of the United States decided to drop bombs on US citizens. More specifically they dropped ordinances on MOVE, a small radical collective located in a middle class neighborhood in West Philadelphia.

According to the police, they went to evict MOVE and serve arrest warrants on four members of the organization for the murder of a police officer. What followed led to a violent standoff where at least 10,000 rounds of ammunition were fired into the house and a C4/Tovex Bomb was dropped. The bomb blast blew the house apart killing everyone inside except Ramona Africa. Eleven members of MOVE were killed as were five children.

This was all due to a confrontation the city of brotherly love had with MOVE back in 1978. Nine members of MOVE were given lengthy prison sentences (30 to 100 years each) for the murder of a police officer who died from a single bullet. Those nine members were known as the MOVE 9 and the leader of MOVE, John Africa demanded justice. He believed the police arrived with warrants because MOVE wouldn't let the issue die. The eviction part of the issue was due to complaining neighbors regarding the rats, roaches, and living conditions within 6221 Osage Ave, where MOVE was headquartered.

On May 12th, authorities evacuated the block telling residents there was going to be a police action the next day, and the next day the police destroyed the entire block, took sixteen lives in the process, and made countless others homeless. As 6221 Osage Ave burned, the fire department was told not to put the fire down and to instead let it burn. The fire began leaping from rooftop to rooftop and consequently destroyed the entire block of houses. The neighborhood was predominantly African-American.

That was the day I ceased being proud to be an American and began to look at this country with a different eye. That was the day my radical side was born because if they could drop bombs on Black people in this country, what are they doing to Black and brown people abroad? What atrocities was this country committing to people of color in distant lands that we never hear about? On May 14th I was no longer concerned with trying to get drunk or trying to get laid. Now I was educating myself, sharing with my boys what was going on, and hugging my mother tight because that's when I realized there was a target on our backs if we dared not fall in line.

There is a documentary coming out on this tragedy entitled Let The Fire Burn and I cannot wait to see it. In fact, I will be first in line. Never forget that the struggle continues!

And Yet Another Name Added...

I tried my best to not write this blog post. I did whatever I could do to avoid it, to leave it behind but no matter where I went, there I was was. I realized there's no hiding from conscience just as there is no hiding what happened to 24 year old Jonathan A. Ferrell at the hands of, or more like at the gun of North Carolina police officer Randall Kerrick. Jonathan was shot at 12 times and was hit 10, he died at the scene.

Unarmed and more than likely disoriented from being in a car crash, Jonathan ran towards the police when they arrived. Apparently fearing for his life, Officer Kerrick opened fire and unloaded on Jonathan. He unloaded on someone's son, someone's loved one, someone's fiance. It seems that thought never entered Kerrick's mind when he un-holstered his weapon, took aim, and emptied his clip at Jonathan.

If someone is that chicken shit then they shouldn't be given a badge and a gun. Now I wonder how many other people could have potentially lost their lives when Officer Kerrick showed up at the scene. How many other people did he almost shoot while doing his "job"? I am heartbroken and disgusted beyond belief about this because now a mother has to bury her child, and that should never be the case. A parent should never bury their child, that's not the natural order of things, and yet here we are again, doing it all over again, while adding yet another name to the list that's already far too fucking long.

Rest in peace Jonathan A. Ferrell. You will never be forgotten.

More Names...

Have you ever heard the name Virgil Ware? Now you're probably wondering to yourself, "Should I have?" The answer to that question is undeniably yes though the fact that most of the world doesn't hold that name up high isn't anyone's fault, circumstances determined that.

Virgil Ware was 13 years old and riding on the handle bars of his oldest brother James' bike when he was shot in the chest and face by a group of white teens returning from a segregationist rally. The white teens were Boy Scouts and as the story goes, Larry Sims had Michael Farley's gun when they spotted the Ware brothers. Wanting to put a good scare in the boys, Larry fired two shots at them. They both found their home in in Virgil, killing him at the scene in his older brothers arms.

Larry Sims and Michael Farley were both tried and convicted of second degree manslaughter and sentenced to just seven months in jail. However, a judge suspended their sentences and gave them an even more unjust sentence of two years probation and no jail time.

Have you ever heard the name Johnny Robinson? Again, you're probably rummaging through your head wondering if you have, you can stp because you probably haven't. It's for the same reasons you've never heard of Virgil, circumstances.

16 year old Johnny Robinson was shot in the back by police officer Jack Parker. Johnny and a group of Black kids threw rocks at a car draped in the confederate flag and full of white teens who hurled racial slurs and Johnny and his friends. When the police arrived, Johnny and his friends scattered. Jack Parker, obviously fearing for his life by a fleeing Black teen pulled his revolver and shot Johnny in the back, killing him.

Two grand juries were convened and both refused to bring Parker to trial for the murder of Johnny Robinson, and no one was ever prosecuted in the case of his murder.

The reasons you may have never heard of these two young men is because they were murdered in Birmingham, Alabama on the same day as Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair were murdered. Those are the names of the four little Black girls that died in the church bombing in Birmingham 50 years ago yesterday. Their murders were so heinous that Virgil and Johnny's murders were pushed aside and all but forgotten about. I wanted to put their names out and alongside the names of those four little girls in the hopes of informing someone that they too died for no other reason than the color of their skin, and that they should never be forgotten.

Virgil is on the left, Johnny on the right.

May you both continue to rest in peace.

 

Charles Morgan Jr.

I remember a conversation I had with a family member when the last episode of Roots ended. He was so incensed at white people at the time that he begged us not to let him out of the house. When I asked why he replied, "Because I'm bound to go upside the head of the first white person I see." He said it with a smile, I remember that distinctly because while he may have been smiling, it was that kind of sick, demented smile which told me even at the young age I was at the time that he was dead serious.

I asked him if he felt all white people were bad if there were any good ones and he said they were all bad. That the words "good" and "white person" didn't go together in any way, shape or form. I didn't adopt his attitude until I was 19 and divestment from South Africa was the battle cry of the land, well New York City anyway. I was a radical militant and had no kind words for anyone of the Caucasian persuasion but I grew up and matured. I realized that I had no right to judge all white people based on the actions of some, especially since I didn't want them judging me.

I knew there were heroes of the Civil Rights movement, that championed the cause, and stood shoulder to shoulder and back to back with Black folk in support of changing the face of this country. I didn't know all their names, it was impossible to learn their names back then and I still don't, but I learned of one today, one I will never forget. His name is Charles Morgan Jr. While you may have heard of him, I never had and I found his speech, A Time to Speak. I found it to be stirring and 100% true. Listen to his words and you let me know if you think he was telling the truth.

The Racist Thoughts of Rush Limbaugh.

Has there ever been a person you just wanted to meet for whatever reason? Was there that person you just hoped you bumped into one day or actually got to sit down with and hold a conversation with? I'm sure there is, and I'm sure for most it would be some kind of TV or movie star and for some it would be a sports athlete. I am sure there are others that would love to meet their favorite musician or artist be they writers, dancers, singers, painters and the like. Or maybe you would want to meet the President or the First Lady or someone else iconic.

Years ago when I was in my teens I always wanted to have a sit down with the leader of the KKK. I know, I know, but I was convinced that a straight up conversation with the likes of me would make that man realize just how backwards thinking he really was. I then realized that no matter what I would have said to that man, whomever he may have been, wouldn't have changed a damn thing. Sometimes ignorance is just too thick to break through and defeat.

Today though, after hearing what I heard the insane blowhard Rush Limbaugh said, I would really love to meet him. Not to talk some sense into him, we both know that would be impossible on any level. No, I want to meet him just to slap the shit out of him and see just how many pills he had taken. Today's quip took the cake and I swear, if I ever get the chance to meet this bloated douchebag, he should get prepared to be slapped down and force fed some Chicken McNuggets.

Ahhh...The Greek Life

It's hilarious to me, these fraternities and sororities. White Anglo Saxon and African American kids living the "Greek" life is a massive contradiction in terms, but I'll get to that later. Now I personally see no purpose in a frat or sorority but I guess that's because I was never part of one. Had I pledged a frat and crossed over, I am sure the world would be putty in my hands thanks to the network. The network of brotherhood.

A frat or a sorority is all about networking and who you know. Two kids vying for the same job, both fresh out of college, one has a far better GPA than the other, with more letters of commendations under his/her belt means nothing in the face of brotherhood or sisterhood. If the person doing the hiring belonged to the same frat or sorority as the applicant, guess who's getting that job. It wouldn't matter if that kid was a drunken buffoon who rarely went to class sober, he or she is practically set for life once a part of a house.

I say that to say this, one of the last strongholds of segregation on college campuses are fraternities and sororities. While most colleges embrace diversity and inclusion, the "Greeks" do not and seems like they never will. Before you attack me, I am sure there are houses out there that are integrated, how could there not be, but for the most part it's "go be with your own". Case in point, the University of Alabama student newspaper did a story recently exposing four traditionally all white sororities who have reportedly blocked two Black females from crossing over.

One of the girls who pledged had a 4.3 GPA and had "family roots that link directly back to the university", and yet she was denied. The article in The Crimson and White which is entitled "The Final Barrier: 50 years later, segregation still exists" listed Alpha Gamma Delta, Tri Delta, Chi Omega, and Pi Beta Phi as the four sororities that denied the young ladies strictly based on their skin color alone. Why these young ladies decided to pledge these all white houses to begin with is mystifying to me, unless these women grew up in a world surrounded by those that look nothing like them.

Let's say these two beautiful young Black women grew up in predominantly white suburban enclaves. They had sleep overs with their white BFF's, dated white boys, dressed like their white friends, listened to the same music, read the same books, and grew up in a household where they were told there was no such thing as racism. All their lives they lived in a sheltered environment where they believed that their skin color didn't define them, that it wasn't going to stand in their way, that it didn't matter. I suppose after this, after being dropped from the lists of pledges of FOUR houses the world they thought they knew, wasn't the world they thought they knew. Hopefully they've taken off the rose colored glasses and they now see the world in a much more realistic light.

Kids pledge frats and sororities for the networking it can provide. A great career, security, power beyond the wildest of imaginations can be obtained through joining the right frat or the right sorority. Why white Anglo-Saxon and African-american kids choose to be "Greek" is beyond me, but it's an identifier, it's a badge of honor, it's something that says, "Hey, I was a drunken buffoon in my college days too, welcome aboard"

That Time Of Year Again.

Yes, it's that time of the year again when the thousands if not millions of out of work Black and brown actors and actresses turn on their TV's and say, "I'm better then him/her". It's time for the fall TV lineup, and as usual there are very few people that look like me on network TV. Granted, NBC threw Black people a bone this season by hiring Blair Underwood to play Ironside, a role made famous by Raymond Burr, yep the big fat white guy. Forget doing something original, forget crafting a show that is tailor made for Blair. Instead, let's reboot an old show where we confine him to a wheelchair and make him the ONLY Black cast member. Great idea NBC.

My mother made a funny the other day when I brought this up with her, and mind you my mother is really not all that funny, but she caught me completely off guard when she called CBS the Caucasian Broadcasting System. Now you may have heard that before but I hadn't, and for that split second not only was my mother the funniest woman on the planet, she was absolutely right. I guess those behind the programming at CBS don't believe Black or brown people exist outside of LL Cool J. Unless of course it's March Madness or some other sporting event. As for as scripted shows, no dice. I won't even bring up their train wreck of a show, Big Brother.

ABC has one of the most popular shows on TV in Scandal, a show about a Black woman, the lovely Kerry Washington who is a crisis manager in Washington DC. She is sleeping with the President of the United States. Yes, the Black woman is the OTHER woman, the home wrecker and if she were on Maury or one of those other shows, she'd be the whore. Cliche much ABC? I'm aware that there is a Black woman behind the show which makes it even harder to stomach. It seems Black people have to debase ourselves so badly to even get a crack at a show on network TV.  

What really burns me up though is that throughout most of these shows, the new ones coming and the old ones already airing, there was no thought to ever hiring a Black or brown person to be even a peripheral member of the show. They don't have to be the star but at least give a Black or brown actor or actress a paycheck. And I am not talking about the already established actors who don't need the money or the help, I'm talking about those out there struggling to make ends meet. Those who are waiting tables, bagging groceries, driving cabs, doing whatever they can to make rent. Every time I turn around there is some new white person getting a show, some actor or actress I have never seen or heard of before, and I've seen and heard of almost all of them, believe me. Yet Black and brown people get no love unless we make a charicature of ourselves.

The Wire was one of the greatest shows ever created because not only was it well written, but it was a show made up primarily of Black and brown people on both sides of the law. It was a show steeped in reality, something none of the networks shows have ever heard of and what no parts of. Happy Watching!

And THIS Is Why I'm No Fan Of The South (or Red Lobster).

You have to love the south, you really do. My family is from the south so although I was born in New York, I have the south in my DNA. Well, not really, but I have the south in my past. My mother taught me what she could about the Civil War, going so far as to buy a set of those Time Life books on the war. You know the ones, with the leather hardcovers. Maybe you don't, but those books played a major part in my edification regarding that time period in my country.

Then I did further research on my own on the south and found out that good old Tennessee was the birthplace of that wonderful Christian organization known as the KKK. I mention that because just the other day, in the great state of Tennessee, a young Black waitress at Red Lobster received an amazingly gracious tip from some of her wonderful customers. Christina Jenkins, a 19 year old nursing student waited on some customers and when they demanded to-go boxes, packed up their food and left. The receipt they left behind on the table for Christina, in the tip area they wrote the words "None Ni***r".

Now outside of that vile and nasty shit, what I found equally as vile was that for posting this receipt on her facebook page, Christina was suspended with pay while the restaurant figures out what actions should be taken against her. Yes, you read that correctly, Christina was suspended. Maybe it was because she posted a picture of the receipt on a social network site, or maybe it was because she added these words as a caption...

This is what I got as a tip last night… so happy to live in the proud southern states…God Bless America, land of the free and home of the low class racists of Tennessee.

I think she had every right to post the pic and make the comment, had it been me they might have had to call the police honestly. I posted this for all the Black people that claim when they use the N word they are taking the sting and the hurt out of the word. NO, you are NOT. Maybe when YOU use the word you mean it with no ill will or malice, but when white people use it towards us, all the sting and hurt is there.

I want to commend this young lady, Christina Jenkins for handling this insult in such a mature way. If her company was smart, they would reward her and promote her because obviously she knows how to handle herself in tough situations far better than the company she works for does.

A Real WTF Moment!

Sometimes I come across things that make me scratch my head. They are things that would be so off the wall that usually they would be hard to believe. The NAACP meeting with the Klan was a shocker, but when I came across this story last night, it was hard to believe that it was almost laughable.

In North Carolina there stands a church, The Freedom House Church, and like most churches, Freedom house has greeters, something similar to Walmart. Those are the people welcoming you in at the front door, they usually tend to have you off to an usher who then shows you to your seat. It seems the lead pastor sent out an email to the congregation looking for more greeters and well, her words could have and should been chosen a little more wisely.

    WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC


Now I thought a church was supposed to build a so called "color blind congregation", at least that's how I was raised and yet there is a Black woman of the cloth seeking "white only greeters". I have an amazingly vivid imagination, I really do and I couldn't have thought this story up no matter how hard I tried or what substance I was under the influence of. This is just too strange, too funny, and too sad to be real, and yet...

The impossible Happened!

Play lotto, powerball, scratch off some lottery tickets, and take your behind to Vegas and bet it all because there is a snowball in hell tonight. I will say it again, there is a snowball in hell tonight because Saturday, the impossible happened.

For the first time in the HISTORY of this country, leaders of the Wyoming branch of The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the leader of the KKK met to discuss the spike in violence against Black Men and the proliferation of KKK pamphlets in the area.

Jimmy Simmons, head of the Casper branch of the NAACP was the one that reached out to John Abarr of the United Klans of America to see if they could meet in June. That meeting wasn't going to happen until some strict ground rules were established, including one where the two men would meet under heavy security. The two sides didn't agree on all the ground rules until recently which is why the meeting didn't take place until this past weekend.

The two men discussed the recent uptick in random acts of violence against Black men, the spike in membership in the Klan after President Obama was re-elected, and John Abarr even spelled out the reasons he liked being in the Klan.

"I like it because you wear robes, and get out and light crosses, and have secret handshakes,” Abarr said, according to the Star-Tribune. “I like being in the Klan -- I sort of like it that people think I’m some sort of outlaw."

Abarr stated that even though he believes the Klan is a non-violent, Christian organization, which I of course find curious. Who knows if any good will come of this historic meeting between these two organizations, whether or not the acts of violence against Black Men will slow down or cease, or if Jimmy and John will share milk and cookies and have a sleep over. All I know is that there is a snowball in the pit of hell tonight, and I am headed to Vegas.

Black Conservatism is my porn!

Black conservatism is a real thing. It's not the figment of anyone's imagination, it is real. There are Black people out there that have adopted the attitudes and ideologies of the conservatives. Lower taxes for the rich (fiscal conservatives), every man for themselves (tea party movement), from Union busting to the desire to privatize Medicare. There are many more conservative principles but I won't get into that, but there are Black people that hold fast to these and all the other tenants of the conservatives.

I respect them, I do. I respect them for aligning themselves with a party that at one time was responsible for the freeing of the slave. I respect them for calling themselves conservatives and belonging to a party that now despises them and seeks to exploit them. If one chooses to boldly stands up and proclaims that they now stand with their enemy, while that may be looked upon with confusion and bewilderment, and while it may not be liked, it needs to be respected.

My problem with Black conservatives and the Black conservatism movement, other than the fact that I think they need to have their heads examined, are the people they put out to do the talking for them. It is hard, Hard, HARD to be taken seriously as a movement when you continue to put "crazy" front and center and have them try to plead your case. Yet that is exactly what conservatives do. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck are personalities on radio and TV. They make their cases against the President and his administration for a paycheck. Those men are hilarious to me but I respect their hustle. When you move over to the elected official side of that coin, well I don't think I really need to mention any of the crazies there by name, I'll just say that when it's a legitimate rape, a woman's body can shut that whole getting pregnant thing down, and I can see Russia from my house.

Now when it comes to Black conservatives it seems they've adopted the "put the crazies front and center" strategy. I have already blogged about James David Manning and his pure insanity. His hatred for the President and the First Lady knows no bounds, nor does his hatred for Black people in general. And while he may have a church in Harlem, I truly doubt he resides there. I was recently introduced to the writings (and I use that term loosely) and ideas of Mychal Massie, a supposed leader in the world of Black conservatism. Reading his writings, this is a man who clearly sees himself as one of "them" and not one of "us", as his words so clearly state. These two men are just the tip of the iceberg of my Black conservatism porn. I mentally masturbate to James Manning alone, because he is SO out there, but now I have two to mentally get off on.

The fact that these two men have decided to rub their conservative ideals and hatred for the First Family all over each other was almost too good to be true. I likened the two part interview Manning conducted with Massie as the perfect storm for someone like me. Mychal Massie is under the impression that President Obama and his wife are "elitist Leninists" and he condemns them for being "the worst kind of racialists". Mychal Massie has attempted to take down Michelle Obama repeatedly because in his words "Michelle Obama’s raw contempt for white America is transpicuous." When I found the interviews online it was like Christmas came early for me by four months, and I was so overjoyed at the amount of porn that was under my tree that I just had to share it. I hope you watch and mentally get off just like I've been doing. You might want to get a napkin or a towel, just saying.

THURGOOD!!!

On this day, forty-six years ago the imitable Thurgood Marshall was confirmed as an Associate Supreme Court Justice. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated him on June 13, 1967 and he was voted to the most powerful court in the land by a Senate vote of 69-11 because he was the best person for the job.

He was the 96th person to hold that position, but the one thing he had over all of those that came before him was that he was the first Black man. His path to the Supreme Court is something worthy of a Hollywood movie. Following his older brother William Aubrey Marshall to the historically Black Lincoln University, his initial intentions were to study medicine and to become a dentist. He wasn't a student that took his studies seriously, getting suspended twice for questionable behavior. He found the debate team and became a star, even arguing against the allowance of African American professors to integrate at Lincoln. His famous classmate Langston Hughes described Thurgood as being "rough and ready, loud, and wrong".

He was denied entry to the University of Maryland Law School based on nothing more than his being Black. That denial was something that stuck with for the rest of his life. It guided his decisions in his professional life. He then applied to Howard University Law School and was accepted and it was at Howard where he met Dean Charles Hamilton Houston. Mr. Houston wanted all his charges to apply the tenets of the Constitution to ALL American citizens, and he was on a mission to overturn the 1898 Supreme Court ruling on Plessy v. Ferguson which established "separate but equal".

In 1933, Thurgood's first major court case was when he sued the school that denied him entry, Maryland Law School to get them to admit a young Black man who was a graduate of Amherst University. Thurgood won. He then followed his mentor and Dean, Mr Houston to NYC and became the chief legal counsel of a small grassroots organization named the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. While there, not only did he successfully argue almost every case he took before the Supreme Court, he also drafted Constitutions for the emerging African nations of Ghana and the country now known as Tanzania.

After successfully arguing the landmark case Brown v. The Board of Education, President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. While there, Thurgood Marshall wrote over 150 decisions and was untouchable as well as unbeatable. He was the voice for those that were voiceless and he fought tirelessly for immigrants. He argued in front of the Supreme Court and never loss, which is why Lyndon Johnson nominated him to the bench, and why he was overwhelmingly confirmed.

He was a great Justice and an even better man. The court was weakened by his retirement and the world was weakened by his death. The second Black person confirmed to the Court has not the integrity Thurgood had, nor does he care about the voiceless. Instead of trying to fill his shoes, he's chosen to ignore them entirely. Thank you for your service to your country Mr. Marshall, thank you for being the great man you were and for being the Justice every Justice should strive to be like.

There is NO such thing as White Privilege!!!

I have been thinking about this ever since I heard the two words together, used as a descriptor. It didn't make sense to me then and it still doesn't. When I heard the words "white privilege" my brain said "what in the hell is that, it doesn't compute". I had no idea why that phrase never registered with me but I kept it moving, figuring it'll either come to me or it won't.

Well it came to me, like a bolt of damn lightning out of the clear blue. My brain beat this thing around for weeks and it finally cracked the code, yes I had a eureka moment. There is no such thing as "White Privilege", do you know why? It's really simple actually, like without "bad" there can be no "good", and without "up" there can be no "down", without Black privilege, there can be no white privilege. And we ALL know there is no such thing as Black privilege here in America.

Sure there are well to do, well off Blacks in this country. Those that live in gated communities, drive $100,000+ cars, have high powered careers that earn them hundreds of thousands if not millions a year, and have not a care in the world. Sadly though, these people are more than likely actors, athletes, or singers. I know there are some that work in the corporate world and make that kind of money, but let's be real here, compared to white people, how many Blacks run hedge funds? How many Blacks are CEO's, COO's, or CFO's of Fortune 500 companies? You could probably count them on one hand.

Remember Henry Louis Gates Jr. and his episode with the white cop who didn't believe Mr. Gates actually lived in his own house? They ironed things out with a beer WITH THE PRESIDENT! Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a a literary critic, scholar, author, and editor. He was the first Black person to ever receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation fellowship. He is a television personality who has hosted many shows on PBS and he's received countless honorary awards for his teaching and his development of academic institutions devoted to African-American studies. In simplest terms, he is an African-American ICON.

Back in 2009, this icon was returning home from a trip and had a hard time opening his door which was jammed. Both he and the driver couldn't get it open. A passerby called the police fearing a break-in. A police officer shows up and ends up arresting Mr. Gates, citing disorderly conduct. If there was ANY man that should have enjoyed "Black Privilege" it should have been Mr. Gates, and yet he was thrown onto the hood of a police car, cuffed, arrested, and charged because he was trying to get into his own house. Two Black icons, President Obama and Mr Gates, along with the Vice President shared a beer with some unknown, unheralded, white flatfoot because of this incident.

It's time to stop calling it "White Privilege" and call it what it truly is, "Privilege". Privilege is something Black people seldom get, if at all. The definition of Privilege is "a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people". Now when you realize that Black and brown people rarely ever get the benefit of the doubt, you know there is no WAY there is something as off the wall as "Black Privilege". So it's time we stop calling it "White Privilege", that doesn't exist. Just call it Privilege because that's what it is.