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.

Happy Anniversary!!!

50 years ago on this day there this monumental event that took place. It was a march by hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country, and quite possible all over the world. These people, who were demanding equal rights for themselves, those that looked like them, and those that looked nothing like them converged on Washington D.C. They were seeking fair work treatment, the end of Jim Crow, the right to vote, the right to due process and so many other things that would make living in this country something to be proud of.

50 years ago these people converged on the Washington Mall was to advocate the passing of the Civil Rights Act that had it's momentum stalled in Congress. The man who organized the very first march on Washington, a march organized based on the fact that Black people benefited less from Roosevelt's New Deal programs during the depression than anyone else, was at it again. Though the first march was cancelled because Roosevelt caved and signed into law Executive Order 8802 which forbade discrimination by any defense contractor while establishing the Fair Employment Practices Committee that would investigate charges of racial discrimination, A. Phillip Randolph was at it again. Randolph organized the second march, this time with long time associate Bayard Rustin and while President Kennedy didn't want the march to go on, there would be no cancelling this time around.

50 years ago, organizations that held long standing grudges put them aside and worked together to make sure this march was a success. The two biggest organizations, The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the NAACP, two groups that very rarely saw eye to eye buried the hatchet for a bigger cause then just themselves. This was such a monumental event because never before had Black people stood en masse and demanded something. When Blacks did something like that back then, they were usually killed on the spot. If someone called you a "nigger" or a "coon" or a "jigaboo", there was no fighting back, you had to take it while damn near saying thank you for the disrespect. People were being lynched while the word nigger rained down on them and now today we're calling each other that vile word, that ability was granted to us because of that march.

With performances by some of the biggest stars of the day, Blacks and whites mingled together, danced together, cheered and applauded together peacefully as person after person took to the podium and delivered heartfelt, impassioned speeches. Speeches about what needed to be done for this country to live up to its potential and treat ALL of it's citizens fairly. No speech was more impactful or profoundly moving than the speech given that day by Martin Luther King Jr. The ending of his speech was actually improvised, which is amazing when you think of it.

To all those that marched and attended, my mother included, to those that fought and died in the struggle before and afterwards, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing what you could to smooth the roads for me and my generation. Your marching on Washington has allowed my generation to make asses of ourselves on television talk shows, make asses of ourselves in music videos and award shows, and become President. I want to bid you and your march a  Happy Anniversary, and please know that some of us still know...the struggle continues.

Kudos to Wild Wing Cafe

Let me get this straight, your company is so damn stupid that you throw out a family of twenty-five Black people. TWENTY-FIVE Black people who waited TWO HOURS to be seated, which boggles my mind because there is no way on this green earth am I waiting TWO HOURS for a table ANYWHERE, but I digress. After this PAYING family of TWENTY-FIVE patient patrons waited two hours for a table at your measly, and apparently racist establishment in the lovely state of South Carolina, the white shift manager asked them to leave.

They weren't asked to leave because they were spray painting swastikas on the bald heads of the white diners. They weren't asked to leave because they started a food fight at the salad bar (do you even have a salad bar?). They weren't asked to leave because they were tossing chairs and flinging tables. No, this ridiculously patient, and respectful party of twenty five Black people were TOLD to leave because a white diner felt "threatened".

I enthusiastically applaud you Wild Wing Cafe, for showing the world, and that paying party of TWENTY-FIVE Black people that shit isn't fair, isn't right, and will never be in my lifetime. Thank you for saying so vividly what I have been saying for years, that we are still looked upon by some whites as threatening, violent, and animalistic creatures that can't be trusted to act civilized.

I know you apologized to the patriarch of the family and offered him and his family a free mean, but if I were him I would tell you to shove your apology along with every piece of food they would have eaten straight up your collective asses. You allowed one white patron to make you lose out on a PAYING party of TWENTY-FIVE? Apparently your company must be doing just fine in these economic hard times so I'm curious, what's your secret? Anyway, I rarely pray for failure, but I hope and pray that your restaurant goes out of business.  

Raped...TWICE! (just for good measure).

There are a few things I don't understand and more than likely, I never will. I don't understand the concept of rape for starters. Since rape is not about sex but instead about power, I don't understand why someone in their twenties or thirties would feel so compelled to rape someone in their teens or single digits. Why would an adult feel the need to impose their will and power on someone that won't even THINK to fight back, let alone try to. It boggles my mind.

I have come across cases where babies have been sexually assaulted, not toddlers, BABIES! I have heard of cases where the older sister let her "friends" rape the younger sister because it was "time for her to see what it was like." There are hundreds if not thousands, if not millions of cases where some uncle rapes his niece or nephew or a stepfather pounces on his stepdaughter or stepson.

Rape is a brutal and vicious attack not just on the body but the psyche as well. Rape violates the victim in so many ways it's hard to count them all.

The other thing I don't get is this, wen a rapist impregnates his victim, and that victim has a child, why a court would allow said rapist "parental rights". Why would the court order the mother/victim to allow the rapist scum the rights to visit with the child? In my opinion, not only is the mother/victim violated all over again, she'll be violated every time she has to allow this scum to laugh and coo with the baby he helped create by taking what the mother/victim didn't want to give him.

Case in point, in 2009 a 14 year old female was raped by a 20 year old male in Massachusetts. She became pregnant and had the child. The rapist was convicted of the crime and was sentenced to 16 years probation. As per family court, the rapist was ordered to pay child support of $110 a week. The rapist then demanded visitation rights to see the child and would rescind that offer if the judge reversed the decision of his having to pay child support. Legal? yes. Disgusting? Absolutely.

First this "man" rapes a child and get's her pregnant, and then demands visits with that child, knowing it would terrorize his lifelong victim every time he shows up. Then he leverages that as a bargaining chip, blackmail almost to not have to pay child support. For this, I feel this man needs to be castrated and turned into a eunuch. Vicious? Perhaps. Justified? ABSOLUTELY!  

What do you really know?

This question has been on my mind for awhile now, I think ever since the idiot Geraldo Rivera stated that Trayvon shouldn't have been wearing his hoodie on that fateful, rainy night in Florida. Throughout all the maddening comments made on Fox and all of the insipid comments made on facebook by white people, I am curious...

How much do they know about Black people?

I ask because I have heard time and time again that we who have the audacity to say regarding race in this country, that we are playing the "race card". I find that laughable, especially when it's white people who usually jump to the race thing first, before anyone else. Take for instance that horrible murder of Christopher Lane, the Aussie baseball player. Fox News IMMEDIATELY threw up pictures of suspects who were all Black. Did they wait to get confirmation of the suspects? Did they wait for verification of their racial makeup? No! They ran with what they just KNEW had to be the case, that three Black boys shot and killed a white man "just because". They played the race card before ANYONE else, and yet it's Black people who run for that card all the time.

How many Black people, real Black people do the folks on Fox, facebook, or twitter know? I'm not talking about the Black people that agree with them, that they converse with in the makeup room or share a latte and a blueberry scone with in the morning. I'm talking about the hard working Black and brown people that pay taxes, live in apartment buildings, tenements, co-ops, condo's, and houses. Those who have never committed a crime in their lives, never tried a drug, and never took a drink of alcohol. Have the Fox folk, ignorant facebookers, and Romney voters ever really met a Black person, or have they concocted what a Black person is like in their minds?

I ask because it's those folks that want to tell Black people what we should do. They want to tell us what we should wear. They want to instruct us on what we should "get over already". They presume to know what's best for us as if we can't figure it out for ourselves. Have they ever met a Black person or are their worlds Lilly white? See, there are some white people that on a day to day basis never have to see a Black or brown face should they choose not to. They can leave their buildings or their houses, get in their cars or a cab (ignoring the driver), go to work, or wherever; which me be completely devoid of diversity. They could then leave their places of business, get back in their cars or get another cab (again ignoring the driver), and go to a club or a bar completely devoid of diversity yet again. And they can wake up the next day and do it all over again. Black folk don't have such a luxury of never having to see a white face should we choose not to.

Have they ever met a Black person up close, seen the frustration or the fear in our faces, heard the anger in our voices, or caught the swagger in our walk? Have they been to the house of a Black person? Have they eaten the home cooked food of a Black person, listened to our music, danced to it (or tried to), read our books, and learned about who WE say our heroes are? I doubt it, because if they had, most of the drivel that comes falling out of their mouths would cease, much of the poison floating around in their minds would drain out of their ears, and those blinders they wear would fall off their heads. They would finally see us for who we are and they would know that until THEY face their history, we will never get over ours.

White People, THIS is what you can do!!!

Here it is white people, THIS is what you can do to bring about change in this country. I'm sure there are some white people out there that have often wondered to themselves, "What can I do to change things for the better? I'm just one person." Well just as it only takes one person to start a forest fire, all it takes is for one white person to stand up, identify an injustice, and then speak on it openly and LOUDLY right then and there.

Don't go home and post how you feel on facebook, don't write about it in your blog, don't get on the phone and tell someone about how that moment made you feel. SPEAK ON IT THEN AND THERE and you will have done more to effect change here in America than a thousand posts on facebook or fifty blog entries ever could. Don't believe me? Watch this....  

WTF is with these kids these days?

To kill because you're bored, to kill someone you have never met before, to kill "just because", it makes me wonder about this world in which I live. People have often asked me why I don't have any children, and while I won't get into all the reasons here, this is one of them. Had I son, and had that son been murdered by three lunatic juveniles, I would have gone after them with all the might I could have mustered up in my body, and NO one would have been able to stop me.

I can't even begin to try and understand the anguish Christopher Lane's parents feel right now. To have their child taken from them in such a random, careless, and cowardly way is almost incomprehensible. I have to ask myself, where were the parents of James Edwards Jr. Chancey Luna, and Michael Jones? I have to wonder how could they have not seen this madness coming, because they were about to go out and kill someone else before the police caught them. How can madness like that NOT have been noticed?

These three killers will spend the rest of their lives in jail which is exactly what they deserve. No, what they deserve is to be left alone in a room with Christopher Lane's family, friends, and teammates for an hour. That would be what I'd want had that been my son, my friend, or my teammate. That would be fair, THAT would be justice!

The Republicans should never wonder why, ANYMORE!

I have said this time and time again, over the years that white people amaze me with some of the things they say, and some of the things they do. Like some white people have the ability to flip a snowmobile twice in midair, that is absolutely amazing to me. Some white people can see and speak the truth to things so eloquently that they give me goosebumps. I have marveled at the advancements in medicine white people had a hand in, the sacrifices they made when they joined in the fight for civil rights and the dangers they put themselves in by assisting runaway slaves with the Underground Railroad. Sticking their necks out when they didn't have to, when it was best not to and yet they did it anyway, that amazes me to this day.

There is a flip side to that coin that is equally just as amazing to me. The lying, cheating, stealing, and killing white people have done throughout history are things I marvel at. For every truth a white person speaks to, there is one or a few white people that deny that truth so vehemently that it borders on the violent. For every honest square dealing white person who seeks to play by the rules, there is another white person breaking or ignoring the rules altogether and cheating someone of what's rightfully theirs or of their money (see Bank of America lawsuit and settlement). For every invention or innovation made by a white or Black person, there is a white person stealing either someone's idea or stealing the money someone has made off their idea. And for every peace loving, non violent white person on the planet who thinks diplomacy is the way to go, there was a white man who took a slight too far and started World War I, II, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Persian Gulf War so forth and so on. 

Now I have recently read something that has made me wonder about the sanity of some white people, white Republicans in particular. Colorado State Senator Vicki Marble (R)suggested that the reason Black people are mired in poverty is because we eat too much chicken and barbecue. Some of her words...

   MARBLE: When you look at life expectancy, there are problems in the black race: sickle-cell anemia is something that comes up, diabetes is something that’s prevalent in the genetic makeup and you just can’t help it… Although I’ve got to say, I’ve never had better barbecue and better chicken and ate better in my life than when you go down south and you — I mean love it and everybody loves it. The Mexican diet in Mexico with all of the fresh vegetables. And you go down there and they’re much thinner than when they come up here… they change their diet.

I will include the article in which you can hear her entire monologue on this topic, but it makes you wonder, is this the prevailing attitude of the GOP towards Black citizens in this country? Do they think Black and brown people are truly mired in poverty due to what we eat? While the connection can be made to diet and diabetes, to attach poverty to chicken and barbecue is racist and just plain stupid. How does one become a representative of a state being that completely and utterly asinine? Who in the world is voting these people into office? Since the last presidential election, the GOP has been scratching their collective heads and wondering where they went so wrong. Apparently they need to stop looking outwardly at the media for their issues and look within their party, look into the mirror for what's wrong with them.    

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/08/22/2508261/colorado-legislator-poverty-higher-among-black-race-because-they-eat-too-much-chicken/

Elmore Loenard, his words

Rest in peace Mr. Leonard.

Allow me to introduce you to Richie Parker

If you ever tell yourself, "I can't" or ask yourself, "How can I make it?", if you allow someone to deter you from ever doing something, then you need to hear the story of this amazing man. His name is Richie Parker and after you see this video, if you remain uninspired or if you continue to let people tell you can't...then shame on you!

Two Fucking Awesome For Words....

Behind Closed Doors!

As an American, you are supposed to feel safe when you close and lock your door, that is IF you close and lock your door, some don't but hey, I don't judge. The three words that every American chooses to use when protecting themselves from any kind of intrusion be it personal or federal is Behind Closed Doors.

Behind closed doors you should feel safe. You should feel that once ensconced in your house, apartment, trailer that you are protected and no harm can come to you. You should feel like your abode is your body guard and all is well, right?

Sadly twelve year old Tequilia Forshee wasn't safe behind her closed and locked door. She was instead shot and killed in her Miami home yesterday after bullets tore through her grandmothers house. She was just getting ready to get her hair done by her grandmother for school when bullets tore their way into the taupe colored home during the evening. According to the reports, the gunman/men was apparently looking for the young girls uncle. What I don't get is the cold callousness of the shooter(s). To shoot up a house says to me that whoever did the shooting didn't give a damn about anyone in the house.

What kind of world are we living in when someone doesn't give a shit about innocent lives, where they shoot up a house in the HOPES of getting their intended target, but if they don't, oh well. It's because of this monster(s) that we now add another far too young child to the list of names of the deceased this year. May you rest in peace Tequilia and may your family eventually find that ever elusive solace.


   

Stop and frisk THIS!!!

Okay, so by now everyone has heard that Judge Shira Scheindlin declared that the New York Police Department program labeled "Stop and Frisk" violated the rights of New Yorkers. Basically Judge Scheindlin said stopping Black and brown people, detaining them, and searching them for no reason other than the fact that they are Black and brown is wrong. Well what do you know, for a program that's been around ELEVEN FUCKING YEARS, someone white has finally made the power elite in NYC come to terms with their overtly racist program.

Yeah Bloomberg and his cronie the Chief of Police, Raymond Kelly believe this program cuts down on crime significantly, but the numbers just don't bear that out in the slightest. According to Policymic.com, 87% of people stopped were of people of color and that 4.8 million stops have been conducted over the past ten years. From all of those stops, 88% of the time there was no evidence of any crime being committed. In the face of those numbers, Bloomberg was quoted saying," I think, we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little." Talk about a Mayor so utterly and completely out of touch with what's going on in his city and with his constituents.

Police Chief Raymond Kelly, upon hearing Bloombergs ridiculous quote, attempted to one up him and said the following, "The best thing to do for someone to do who is being stopped is cooperate. Accept it as a fact of urban life." With that being the attitude of the Chief of Police, it's no wonder why he and Bloomberg disagreed with Judge Scheindlin's ruling. What Kelly and billionaire boy wonder Bloomberg even know about urban life escapes me, and yet that's their attitude.

Now the judge isn't calling for the city to cease and desist stop and frisk, she instead wants the city to alter the program and wants it monitored by the Federal Government. I think this is a win win for Bloomberg. You can keep your racist program of stopping and searching Black and brown people (mostly men), for no other reason than they aren't white, and have the federal government oversee the entire thing on their dime, not yours. Yet Bloomy will appeal Judge Scheindlin's ruling citing the entire case was, well just watch this hilarious take on it....



Thanks John, I couldn't have put that better myself.

Allow me to introduce George Stinney Jr.

The story of George Stinney literally broke my heart. I am an empathetic person which at times can be a strain and burden on my psyche. I can care too deeply, feel too much, and have a tendency to put myself in someone else's shoes. There are instances where this has served me well and the flip side of that has hurt me to the core. It's incited my passion and my fury, enraged me to uncontrollable and scary heights as I have wondered what the last moments of life was like for certain people. Upon reading about George Stinney, I unconsciously did it again and it broke me in two.

George Stinney was a fourteen year old boy from Alcolu, South Carolina and he was convicted of first degree murder. He was the youngest person on record to be executed in America. He was arrested and tried for the murder of two little white girls, Betty June Binnicker, aged 11, and Mary Emma Thames, aged 8. The small town these three children were from, Alcolu was a hard working yet segregated town divided by railroad tracks. One day Betty June and her friend Mary Emma road their bikes over those tracks in search of a particular flower known as "maypops". They passed the Stinney house and asked George Stinney and his sister Katherine if they knew where they could find some. The girls were never seen alive again.

They were found the following morning in a ditch, both with severe head wounds. George told someone during the search that he had spoken to the girls on the day they were killed. Admitting that he and his sister were the last people to see the girls alive, George Stinney was arrested on that basis alone. 

After being interrogated by several white men in a locked room by himself, George Stinney confessed to the murder. According to said confession Stinney stated that he wanted to have sex with Betty June but couldn't with Emma there, so he went to kill Emma. Both girls fought back so George decided to kill them both with a railroad spike that was found in the same ditch as the bodies. Fourteen year old George Stinney was not only able to kill these two girls by himself, but he was able to shatter their skulls into at least 4-5 pieces. 

He was charged with first degree murder, and because their was no Miranda rights in 1944, George was questioned without a lawyer present and his parents were barred from the room. There was no written confession and there is a report that states George was offered ice cream if he confessed to the crime. The town of Alcolu, which was at first gripped with grief was now out for blood. George had to be taken to Charleston for his safety and his family left town during the night as they feared for their lives. 

George Junius Stinney Jr. was tried as an adult, convicted of murder and was sent to the electric chair by an all white "jury of his peers" after they deliberated for just ten minutes. I can't even imagine what his last hours of life were like. Walking to the chamber of execution for a crime almost everyone surely knew he couldn't have done, his small frame being strapped into a chair that was meant for men twice his size, and using a Bible as a booster seat. One or two adults got away with killing three children on March 23, 1944, Betty and Emma on that day, and though George was electrocuted on June 16, 1944 his fate was sealed on that March day as well.   

I'm not a religious man, never claimed to be but in this case I hope Betty, Emma, and George are all playing together in a field of flowers. And I hope their murderer suffers for all eternity. 

Spell Father!

There is no need for words, just one will do. Beautiful!

Have you heard of Tim Wise?

Have you heard of Tim Wise? I can understand if you haven't. I am sure there is a group of power brokers out there that are doing whatever they can to keep this man and his message under wraps. Why is that, you ask? Well it could be because he speaks very eloquently and passionately against the injustices Black and brown people face here in America on a daily basis. It could also be that he has facts and numbers, not just guesses and speculations to back up his claims regarding how dis-proportionally skewed the legal system in America is when it comes to Black and brown people, as opposed to white people. Or maybe it's because Tim Wise is a white guy saying these things.

When was the last time you heard a white man speak out on the injustices the people of color face here in America. For me, before it was Tim Wise, it was Morris Dees. Morris is the founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center and he single handedly took on the Klan and the Aryan Brotherhood, he ran them to ground with law suits, criticisms regarding their manhood and intelligence, and he did so relentlessly. Tim Wise, while not chasing down the ignorant groups that preach white supremacy has indeed taken up the torch from Morris.

The first time I hear Tim Wise speak, my jaw hit the floor. It was amazing to hear this man spew undeniable truths and facts about how America treats her Black and brown citizens, using many of the same words I have been using since I was in my teens. I never thought I would be hearing them come out of a body covered in lily white skin. I thought my eyes were deceiving me and found it funny that my ears weren't. I wanted to know more so I read his book Dear White America: Letter to A New Minority and realized this man was legit in what he was saying and preaching to college campuses across the country. He mentioned things in that book that I had not even realized. There were things written in that book that saddened me, disappointed me, and of course pissed me off.

I recommended that book to any and everyone I knew, I felt it was a book that every Black person should read because it was a message for the masses, not just a congregation. Black Preachers have been preaching similar messages/sermons to their congregations for years. Things like accountability, responsibility, and action within the Black community. The message is backed with a spiritual undercurrent, the problem there though is if you aren't a part of that congregation, you don't hear that message/sermon and with me being agnostic, I'm definitely not hearing that message/sermon. Tim is not delivering those types of messages in his lectures or in his books, what he is doing is letting people of color know that there is at least one white person out here that understands, that gets it.

If you've heard of him, great let's talk. If you haven't though, then allow me to make the introduction....



   

Abolishing the minimum wage?

So it's been batted around for years now, bantered back and forth between so called experts and pundits. It's been the topic of many heated debates between senatorial, congressional, and even presidential candidates, mostly on the right. This idea of getting rid of the federal minimum wage has been has been coming out of the mouths of wealthy right wing politicians for years now. They talk about how it's unfair to poor people, how getting rid of the minimum wage would "absolutely" be better for the country, and how the minimum wage is "one of the most anti-poor people" rules in the country.

Right wing radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh feels that the minimum wage is the reason teenage unemployment is so high, and that getting rid of it would spur teenage hiring. The argument there is that businesses are having an already hard time in this economy, to be told that you have to pay your workers at the very least, the newly proposed $9 an hour is just too much, that the "small" business owner just can't afford that. I find that hilarious when the most vociferous opponents of the minimum wage are millionaires and billionaires.

From Paul Ryan to Marco Rubio, from Ron and Rand Paul to Charles Koch and McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner (who pulls in 8.75 million dollars a year mind you), all think that the minimum wage should be abolished, not lowered but absolutely and completely done away with. Then employers can start hiring again, which when you think about it, makes complete sense, if you're an idiot. If you can pay your employees $2.25 an hour as opposed to the current $7.25, you can hire a hell of a lot more people.

Forget the fact that $7.25 is not enough for even a homeless person to live off of, to do away with the minimum wage would result in absolute anarchy, and that's what these wealthy right wing fat cats don't seem to understand. Slavery was abolished hundreds of years ago, that era where the work was done for free, remove the minimum wage and some employers in this country will try to revisit those years much to the chagrin and anger of their employees. Try telling your employees that you're am lowering their hourly wage to $2.25 from $7.25 and see if they don't all quit in unison or rise up and slay you. Yeah, good luck with that one.

Not only should it not be abolished but it desperately needs to be raised, and well past the proposed $9 an hour. It's only common sense, not to mention common decency. Not everyone in this country is destined for a high paying job because there are some people who can't even afford community college, let alone a private institution of higher learning. Not everyone in this country can speak English, some are undocumented, and some come from circumstances that can't even be imagined. These people are the low wage earners, doing what they can to get by, doing the jobs no one else wants, and now some bureaucrat and some billionaire wants to pay them less. That's just offensive, and I would imagine those people call themselves christians.

It's funny to me how the rich, the wealthy, and the powerful want to do away with the needed minimum wage, and yet aren't saying what they would replace it with. Something to think about.    

Why does the Black man always have to die?

I would seriously love an answer to my question. Every time I turn around, it's the Black man that's dying in a science fiction movie. In fact, that's become as common as the scared white girl in the horror movie falling flat on her face while running. You know the one, out with her guy in her really short shorts and questionable heels in the inky black woods, while the rest of their friends are either snuggled in the tents or sitting around the campfire telling horror stories. These two love birds sneak off for a little "ohh la la", only to be confronted by the lunatic with the deadly implement of destruction. The witless boyfriend buys the farm first and the white girl, in the questionable heels almost makes it back to her friends, but instead she falls flat on her face feet from the pack and gets her pretty little head chopped off.

That was the scenario in almost every horror film from the mid 80's to the early 90's. That was until some director decided the bad ass of the group should be the brunette female. The girl described above was always usually the blonde chick. This raven haired white girl faces down the sicko with the sharp killing device and slays him. Bravo for the bad ass white girl. I think it's time Black actors demand the same treatment as the raven haired girl. If they choose to be in a science fiction project, then it must be in their contract that their character CANNOT die!!!

Starting with the late great Paul Winfield who killed himself in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, all Black actors seem to buy the farm in sci-fi movies. I think the only Black actor that didn't die in a good sci-fi flick (I'm not talking about that Terminator: Salvation and After Earth crap) was Billy Dee Williams who somehow made it out alive in both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. George Lucas made up for that slight though in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith where Samuel L. Jackson dies a horrible death. It's like Black people don't live in the future and if we do, it's just a matter of time before someone kills us. Last year, Michael B. Jordan died in Chronicle and just this year Morgan Freeman dies in Oblivion and Idris Elba bows out heroically in Pacific Rim.

Can SOMEONE make a science fiction movie where the Black guy lives to the very end and smiles as the credits roll. If the white girls are living through the horror movies now, why can't the Black guys make it all the way through a sci-fi motion picture? I mean, do we ALWAYS have to die? Sheesh!

Crazy in MY house!!!

I have sat here and have written in depth about how White America has crazy in their house. I have pleaded with White America to do something about their drunk uncle who's going around the country and messing up everyone else's good times. Well I am here to turn that introspective eye upon my house. Yes, I have crazy in my house and he goes by The Honorable James David Manning.

First off, for a man like this to use the word Honorable in front of his name is just a hoot. His views are clearly off the wall and it's quite obvious to me, and anyone else that gives this man a listen too, that he is catering to white people. This mans views almost make you think he's a fat white guy in black face. I have watched two of his videos and initially I was disturbed and disgusted. In the first video I watched (that is posted at the bottom of this entry), he talks about Black men with such disdain, cites the most ludicrous of statistics, and never EVER refers to himself as Black. It actually comes off as resume tape submission of him seeking a job at Fox News. He sounds like every white racist on that show and on the radio when they talk about Black people and how we blame white people for every hardship we encounter on a day to day basis.

Mr. Manning has either clearly drank the kool-aid or he saw an opportunity to use his people in a way to make money for himself. Now whether or not this crazy man believes half the shit that comes flying out of his mouth is hard to say. What I can say is that he has the audacity to spew this shit about his own people in the first place. Like I stated, initially I was disturbed and disgusted, but then I laughed my head off. This sorry man apparently is so full of self hate that A, it's hard to take him seriously and B, it's hard not to pity him.

The other video I watched (also posted below) was just as offensive as he went about calling certain men pimps, and stating the "so called" President has single handedly started a "race war". He says Obama started this war by "co-opting" Trayvon Martin as his son. That's it! That's all the President had to do to start a race war the likes of which never before seen on any soil, ANYWHERE! Now I know that there are Black people out that that are no fans of Obama, and some may even hate him for whatever reason fits their ideology of the day, but I doubt any of Obama's Black haters would agree with Mr. Manning's assessment. He goes on to call Sharpton, Jackson, Farrakhan, Ben Jealous, and those at the Urban League high class Harvard educated pimps. I don't think Sharpton has even visited the campus of Harvard, I KNOW he never attended any classes there, same definitely goes for Minister Farrakhan, but when you hear Mr. Manning speak, you can hear his anger.

He sees his people as weak, a mindless populous that can't think for themselves, can't make up their own minds, and are easily led by charlatans. What's so ironic is that Mr. Manning is being led himself, by the white racists who hate Black people and wish we didn't exist in this country, I don't think Mr. Manning will ever wake up from his stupor, but should I ever meet this man, I will grabe that drunk uncle and tell him to sit down and shut the fuck up!

"Asian Girlz"...racist or genius?

Wow! Just when I was starting to feel hopeful, just when I was wondering if things could actually change, just when I felt good about the potential for White America I see the video Asian Girlz. Without a doubt it is the most racist thing I have ever heard in the past hmmm 20 years, maybe. For someone to actually release this and then have the nerve to say that they are NOT racist is fucking hilarious, but that's exactly how the band Day Above Ground feels. Their reason, because they have an Indonesian born bass player (who himself needs to smacked up aside his ignorant head for even participating in something like this).

The lyrics are just so offensive they are almost laughable. They will shock you if not appall you. Singing lyrics like I love your sticky rice/butt fucking all night get the show started. As if that wasn't bad enough they continue with I love your creamy yellow thighs/Your slanty eyes, and it's impossible to forget the memorable line of ninja pussy I'm stabbin. They eventually get to Your momma so pretty/Best nails in the city and the almost pedophilic line of 17 or 23/It doesn't matter to me. All I can say is I hope the check they wrote out to Levy Tran was big enough to cover the cost of her lost dignity.

This is so amazingly blisteringly racist you have to wonder who Day Above Ground is and where they come from. Well while I have no info on this pack of idiots, here is there defense of this shit they call a song...

"This song is us, Day Above Ground, making fun of ourselves (and many, many other guys) obsession with the always lovely, Asian Woman. It pushes this concept to an absurd level, but at the same time is endearing & submissive.. WE ARE NOT RACIST, HAHA! I mean, look at our band, it's multicultural!! The guy in the bow-tie, our cutie bass player, was born in Indonesia, and he steals the show!! Please don't take this tongue-in-cheek tribute to some of the most gorgeous women on the planet too seriously!! You'll ruin the fun of it all!! Thanks for watching, sincerely!!"

All I can say is judge for yourself if this is band and their sorry ass song is racist. Or could it be the best marketing ploy...ever?