Black Folks: Stupis is as Stupid Does

Which of these three men acted more ’stupidly’ in the past week? A. Professor Henry Louis Gates B. Sgt. James Crowley C. President Barack Obama Well, let us attempt to make sense of the actions of these individuals before we determine a winner to our ’stupidest’ contest. I will not rehash the entire story because by now anyone who follows any news source is familiar with the incident in Cambridge Mass. on July 16th. In summation,Gates was arrested by officer Crowley and charged with disorderly conduct after being questioned about a suspected “break in” by Gates at his own home. President Obama subsequently chimed in with his opinion on the incident, infuriating law enforcement officers nationally with his unflattering characterization of Crowley’s handling of Gates. Immediately after Gates arrest, every major (and minor) media outlet seized the opportunity to bring yet another story of racism among police officers against African Americans. Unfortunately for Crowley and the Cambridge police department, Gates, in the words of that great negro poet Ice Cube was obviously the wrong nigga to fuck with. All charges against Gates were eventually dismissed. I decided to hold off making any commentary about the incident until I heard all the talking heads who offered opinions and analysis on the matter, and until I felt as though I had enough factual information about the events on July 16th to make a qualified assessment. Now, back to the contest. Professor Gates has been one of the premiere voices of African American experience for several decades now and has been recognized as one of the most distinguished and articulate voices to come from Black Academia in the history of our nation. Gates has a degree from Yale, has taught at that University as well as Cornell and Duke University. He has authored or co-authored no less than 11 books and in 1997 Time Magazine listed him as one of the “25 Most Influential Americans”. Oh, did I mention that he has the President of the United States on his speed dial? To put it bluntly, the man is very, very, very smart. Still he obviously is not smart enough to know that black people are not allowed to get belligerent with white police officers in Massachusetts. I wonder if throughout Gates’ career defining the African American experience anyone ever bothered to hand him a copy of the memo that has been circulating around ‘the hood’ since the beginning of time that says black man rule number one: police do not need a reason to arrest black people and any arrest could easily result in a severe beating and/or being shot. Gates was within his rights to be perturbed that he was being questioned about his identity while standing in his own home, but if Crowley had decided to shoot him instead of arrest him (a real possibility in America) the story coming out of the Cambridge P.D. would have been very different. Plus when the President is your man there are two things to immediately consider. Firstly, if he had kept his cool he could have had Crowley demoted to School Crossing Guard with one phone call. Second, when your man is the big boss, don’t put him out in public to deal with a mess, have that conversation on the low. Sgt James Crowley is a member of the Cambridge Mass. Police Department…translation: Sgt. Crowley has been trained the there is no bigger threat to this nation than a black man. It doesn’t matter if the black man is 60 years old, walks with a cane and is standing in his own home, black is black. Crowley had an opportunity to give Gates what I call the Fred Sanford pass. If you’ve ever watched the 70’s television show Sanford & Son, you’ll notice that Red Foxx’s character Fred G. Sanford was always loud and obnoxious whenever the police showed up at his place of business. Sanford was never degrading per se, just loud enough to say to the police, I’m a black man that had made to 60 years old in this country and your desk Sgt is going to look at you like a moron for dragging me down to the station because I was shouting. Instead Crowley, clearly disrespected by Gates’ remarks, one of which evidently referenced Crowley’s mother, decided to arrest Gates on the old ‘Disorderly Conduct’ law. A law so vague that I’m sure that if your neighbors hear you and your spouse making love too loudly, you can be booked. Crowley is a police Sargent, not some beat cop fresh out of the academy. He has certainly seen enough real crime and debauchery in his career to understand how a black man that can afford to live in the community where Gates lives is certainly going to get a few things off his chest when the police are harassing him, and once Gates produced identification that verified that he was indeed in his own home, then every moment that Crowely remained at the residence in a shouting match with the professor was indeed harassment. President Barack Obama has a million things on his plate right now and the Republican Party is breathing down his neck every second of the day. He also has at least half a dozen writers and/or advisors who are supposed to filter his every word before he verbalizes anything to the public. Saying that Crowley acted ’stupidly’, while indeed quite accurate, is not speech that becomes the President of the United States. That was a George W. Bush slip-up. Although I sure Bush would said something like “Sgt Crowley acted un-racified” or something along those lines. Obama should’ve taken the high road on this matter, a simple “The incident with Mr. Gates seems to be the result of several layers of miscommunication and while unfortunate for Mr. Gates, I’m confident the Cambridge P.D. will have Mr. Gates best interest in mind once things settle down a bit”. Then he could’ve called the Governor of Massachusetts and made it clear that Gates was a friend and Obama would like nothing more than for Crowley to be working the crosswalk at a local elementary school by the next day. For all you Obama haters that think that would tantamount to abuse of power I have two words for you ‘Scooter Libby’. Instead Obama jumped the gun and has since been forced to back pedal and even offer up an apology to Crowley who in my humble opinion really does need to be working school crosswalks, preferably in black neighborhoods for at least the next six months. What Obama did was give fuel to all self respecting, profiling police officers nationwide to inform us how much their feelings were hurt and they felt disrespected (which seems to me to be grounds for mass disorderly conduct arrests…hmmmm). So who was the most stupid Gates, Crowley or Obama? Neither of them, if you ask me, they were all about the same. In my opinion the stupidest person in the entire affair was Lucia Whalen who works for the Harvard alumni magazine and you would certainly think she knows who Gates is and where he lives, I mean she works on the same block where Gates lives and Gates is probably the most recognized black man in the region not named Kevin Garnett or Paul Pierce. Whalen, who was driving by the house told two police she saw two black men with backpacks on the porch of Gates home. When in fact the men had two suitcases and one of them was indeed a gray haired man walking with a cane and it was broad daylight. Excuse me if that visual doesn’t strike me as a your typical ‘breaking and entering’ scenario. Then again to an overzealous 40 something white woman maybe that does look like a threatening situation, which I guess if the problem in the first place. (1) Comments

Posted: 7/27/2009 11:16:35 PM

National Politics: The Company You Keep

Last night I was watching “Real Time” with host Bill Maher and one of the guests was Joe Scarborough of “Morning Joe”. Scarborough was doing Bill a solid by appearing on Maher’s show while on vacation in Nantucket or Cape Cod or somewhere near Martha’s Vineyard. At one point while discussing the GOP’s handling of the Sonia Sotomayor hearings, Maher made this statement: “Of course it would be ludicrous to insinuate that if you are a Republican than you are a racist, because obviously not all Republicans are racists. But it certainly seems that if you are a racist then you are a Republican. Fair or not fair Joe?” Scarborough immediately dismissed Maher’s assertion while going on to chide the GOP’s obsession with alienating future Hispanic voting blocks with their public gaffes challenging Sotomayor’s position on race issues. Scarborough, a Republican and former Congressman in the state of Florida, deftly buried the depth of Maher’s question and skillfully went on the attack against current GOP tactics, thereby avoiding both any confrontation from Maher as well as avoiding finding himself in the position of having to defend any slips of the tongue he might have been subject to had he himself gotten embroiled in a racially charged discourse concerning the Republican Party. The man’s smooth. Still, Scarborough’s artful dodging did not satisfy my hunger to hear that topic addressed by some of the GOP’s more vocal mouthpieces, although I’m sure that will never happen. So to all members of the Republican Party let me address that topic from the point of view of most minorities in America. Most Black Americans do in fact think that most if not all of you are racists. Sorry for being so coy, but it’s the truth. Now I know that most Republicans will point to talking heads like Niger (are you serious?) Innis, Michael Steel, Juan Williams and Armstrong Williams and their frequent appearances on FOX New programs as evidence of the diversity of the GOP. As for Innis, Williams and Armstrong, trust me, their credibility in the black community has been shot down so long ago I find it laughable that FOX News even bothers to trot them out (I guess to speak to people in West Virginia). In fact, Steel’s appointment as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee as well as Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s rise to prominence in the party seems like nothing more than Democratic Party’s equivalent of kissing black babies at churches during election campaigns. Despite hip hop mogul Russell Simmon’s endorsement of Steel while running for the Maryland Senate in 2006, Steel so played himself with his Rush Limbaugh debacle, first denouncing him as pretty much a media clown on D.L. Hughley’s show and then calling Limbaugh to apologize for his remarks, this after Limbaugh saying publicly that Steel wasn’t fit to lead to Republican Party. What a sellout. By the way…99.9 percent of Black Americans despise Limbaugh as well as his pocket lawman, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. (Ditto for Bill O’ Reilly) If Jindal was so much the face of the new GOP then why wasn’t he a keynote speaker at the GOP Convention last fall? I’ll tell you why. During the McCain – Obama race the Republican Party was so sure that it could garner enough anti – black sentiment from it’s base that by selecting a moron like Sarah Palin (who could not articulate the alphabet to second graders) they would certainly dominate the white female oh I’m so scared of the big black beast vote and rustle up enough dormant hard line right wingers to seal Obama’s demise. Personally I am still so flabbergasted by that absolute and total inept strategy that I still find myself shaking my head whenever I see Palin open her mouth on television. Obviously the GOP’s strategy did not work, primarily because the Bush Cheney regime had indeed further alienated the black population from the GOP after the debacle that was the White House’s response to Hurricane Katrina. While there is still more than enough racial distrust in the nation, most Americans have at least gotten used to the fact that although we may not necessarily break bread or worship together on Sundays, we do indeed have to work together and live in close enough proximity of each other that any overt show’s of bigotry could certainly be detrimental personally as well as professionally. Yes Rodney King, we can all just get along. As Americans are in fact getting along, the Republican Party’s assault on the lower class, which is overrepresented percentage-wise by minorities, continues. The biggest disappointment in the Republican Party right now is the lack of strategy. This lack of strategy has manifested itself in overt racial attacks as in the instance of Young Republican National Federation Chair Audra Shay, and even outright comments that border on treason as in the case of Rush Limbaugh. I have attempted on many occasions to eloquate the position that the Republican Party has held in the ascension of black Americans into national politics. From Frederick Douglass to Abraham Lincoln to Colin Powell to Condaleeza Rice, the Republican Party has always been on the forefront of black pioneerism in U.S. politics. The current mouthpieces for the black experience in the GOP are nothing more than poo colored figureheads in the minds of most black Americans, primarily for the company they keep. The new GOP strategy has nothing to do with creating a new agenda for the country which can be outlined and demonstrated to our Republic as a way out of our current diaphanous position in global politics and finances. It is, rather, an attempt to create deep distinct divisions not nearly as much among lines of black and white, but even more so the informed and under-informed. By appealing to the lower ebbs of our respective cultural ethnicity, the Republicans have managed to exacerbate the fragile divisions among races that so American community and spiritual leaders have worked and died to eradicate. For years most of black America has felt as though the Republican Party had no love or concern for African Americans or any other minority group in America. Instead of using its vast intellectual and supposed patriotic resources to quell any such notions, the party of O’ Reilly, Limbaugh, Cheney and now Shay has only verified it. (1) Comments

Posted: 7/27/2009 11:14:06 PM

National Politics: Pitbull comes ashore

Sarah Palin has announced that she will not be finishing her term as the Govenor of Alsaka. Raise the roof baby! I’m stunned. After being exposed as a moron of the highest order in front of the entire globe during the 2008 Presidential campaign, after being ridiculed by every comedian not named Rush Limbaugh, after putting more foot in her mouth than the competitors at a South Carolina ‘pig – foot eating contest’, now she decides to exit sled left? Did she wake up yesterday and finally realize that she had been treading water in the ocean of national politics without having taken a single swimming lesson? Yesterday? She just realized this yesterday? Of course ‘moron nation’ will shed tears for her like Michael Jackson fans ,further driving a wedge down the middle of the G.O.P., at least half of whom realized that Barack Obama had sealed up last year’s election the moment John McCain chose Palin as a running mate. I called my brother as soon as I heard the Palin announcement on NPR and told him literally, “McCain just gave away the election.” Since Palin is not present to defend herself, and more importantly because she will not be around to poke fun at anymore let us recap some of the highlights of what I like to call the “Palin-eo-this chick? Era”. Keep in mind that I won’t waste any time rehasing her pre McCain years because she wasn’t any dirtier than most of the other politicians That have held public offices nationwide. I mean she didn’t: smoke crack in a hotel room with a prostitute, pardon any convicted felons, sextext any congressional pages,try to solicit sex in a bathroom stall…at an airport…you get the picture. Still she will be missed if for no other reason thatn the fact that her comedic timing rivals Michael Cera and at least we’ll still get to watch him in more movies. The “Palin-oh-this chick? Era” August 2008 – Palin announced as running mate to GOP Presidential candidate John McCain. Her primamry qualification? Commander and Chief of the Alaskan National Guard. September 2008 – Palin is found to have billed the citizens of Alaska for 312 days of per diem while traveling on state business. The only problem? She was staying at home at the time. McCain decides to keep Palin away from the press for three weeks for waterboarding, excuse me ‘presidential training’. In the same month Palin tells CBS’s Katie Couric: ”As (Russian President) Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border.” This, Palin says, is what gives her the neccessary foreign policy experience to occupy the White House. October 2008 - When asked, again by Katie Couric, after her ‘presidential training, to name a Supreme Court decision that she disagreed with other then Roe vs Wade, Palin responded…”Well, let’s see. There’s ? of course in the great history of America there have been rulings that there’s never going to be absolute consensus by every American, and there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but ?” Other Palin gems during the month of October: “They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan.” “[T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.”…in response to a question from a third grader. The question? What does the Vice President do? A top McCain adviser once called her “A whack job.” “She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she’s done to this state. What would she do to the nation?” ?Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green, who is a Republican. We’ll miss you Sarah Palin. You were our best hope to fuel our late night shows with comedy material after Dubya. I know that you’ll make a brief re-apperance in 2012 (probably with Limbaugh by her side) to try to jump start your base, but that effort will be short lived as the Republican Party will most certainly bury you faster than you can shoot a mosse from a helicopter. Still, thanks for the ride. After what Bush and Cheney did to the U.S. we needed some good laughs. (0) Comments

Posted: 7/6/2009 9:28:46 PM

National Politics: Whatever works

Although I tried to launch other blogs on various sites, for some reason none of them garnered more attention (and hits on Google) than this one. So I will move my work from the other sites here and then begin again...here. Thanks all Curly Morris 'Black American Loudmouth' 7/6/09 (1) Comments

Posted: 7/6/2009 7:59:02 PM

The real heroes of our nation

When former NBA player John Amechi came out of the "closet" about his sexuality, all I kept hearing was about what a hero he was. Give me a break. For telling the world he was homosexual that makes him a Hero? At least the LA Times Sportswriter who "came out" last week still has to work among fellow employees who are now privy to his preference for cross dressing, but even he has not saved anyone or helped anyone who really needed it. Of course I had a lot of people trying to throw me under the bus for my religion column last week. I tell you, those Christians sure are a violent bunch sometimes...oops my bad...I meant to say Muslims....or did I? Here's an article about some real heroes...past and present. (0) Comments

Posted: 5/7/2007 2:40:58 PM

National Politics: Hero, not a word to be taken lightly

This article first appeared in the Roanoke Chowan news Herald on May1, 2007 "We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by." Will Rogers I knew that my decision to challenge organized religion last week would be met with vehement opposition. Most of the responses I received were from people offering me their sympathy for being so confused as well as their intentions to keep me and my daughter in their prayers. Thank you to all who offered to pray for me, I can always use some extra prayer. I struggled all week with how I would formulate the proper response to the multitude of opinions I received and then lo and behold the ebb and flow of the universe dictated that I end up in Sunbury Saturday morning, and I knew I had my response. Well it wasn't necessarily the ebb and flow of the universe that sent me to Sunbury Saturday afternoon, it was more like my editor sending me out on an assignment and suggesting that if I would like to continue getting paid then I should be sure to attend. As the majority of America spent their Saturday afternoon enjoying the privileges of living in a country where individuals are free to not only have their own opinion but also free to share them with anyone who will listen without fear of lifelong imprisonment, several dozen individuals spent Saturday being acknowledged for ensuring that freedom. Unfortunately, these individuals live a life of relative anonymity, simultaneously unable to enjoy the fruits of their eternal sacrifices. I made the comment in the newsroom the other day that if I lived in North Korea, China or Iran I would most certainly be a political prisoner. That is, if I lived in either of those countries and had the same compulsion to question the workings of my government and the status quo of society as a whole. As it is, being born in the United States, I was taught early on of the efforts made by those who founded this nation to assure that no single ideology or any singularly opinionated group would ever monopolize the privilege of maintaining the status of our republic. In a dimly lit room, barely the size of the living room of many American homes, men and women who sacrificed their own freedom of mobility, freedom of shopping, freedom of swimming, freedom of driving and pretty much their freedom of a normal life were allowed to take part in one of many events which occur nationwide to try to express our nation's gratitude. When I first arrived at VFW Post 7312 in Sunbury, you could hear the music and good times before you ever entered the building. There were several men in their wheelchairs sitting outside of the building, doing nothing more than sitting. I conversed with them for a little while, discussing things like how big my camera was and the weather, the entire time feeling uncomfortable because I had the option of leaving and going anywhere I wanted to go in the world unassisted and they did not. It was difficult wondering how much of my interaction would be gauged by the men as genuine and how often they might believe I was merely patronizing them. I am an honorably discharged veteran, but unlike these men, I had never seen combat when I was in the Army. As an individual who stretches my constitutional right to free speech to its limit on many occasions, when face to face with people who literally sacrificed their own well being so that I could be Curly Morris, I could not help but feel unworthy. It is incumbent upon us as American citizens to hold our government accountable at all times, that directive was mandated by the founding fathers. When the men and women who established this republic formulated the concept of a free and independent nation, the cornerstone of that ideal was that each individual has inalienable rights given to them by their creator, whoever that individual feels their creator may be. Our nation has a long track record of discord with nations who have exhibited an unwillingness to allow its citizens to live; vote and, yes, even worship freely. The basis for much of the rhetoric against Islamic fundamentalists who are being painted worldwide as unforgiving terrorists is their supposed intolerance for varying religious and social ideals shared by this and other democratic nations. Although I fully expected the backlash, I think that many of you would be surprised with the unwavering, polarized responses I received from some readers about last week's column. Some of the venomous rebuttals I received sounded eerily similar to the principles and ideals attributed to so called terrorists groups. My greeting at Post 7312 Saturday was in stark contrast to the majority of the responses I received from the general public. For the first time since I have been employed at the News Herald I found myself among fellow Americans who accepted me not for who as I was as an individual, but rather what my camera, my pen and my presence represented. It is why so many Americans throughout history have found themselves confined to lives most of us would shudder to imagine, requiring assistance for tasks we take for granted on a daily basis. Our nation is the poster child for dissention and the freedoms bestowed upon American citizens remain the primary lure of untold immigrants to our country every year. More than any other event I've had the privilege of attending, Saturday's event at Post 7312 inspired me and reminded me that there are men and women right now in a desert in Iraq, who disagree with me as much as many of you. The difference between them and us is that they are walking the walk and not just talking the talk. For as long as God allows them to walk and talk, whoever their God might be. (0) Comments

Posted: 5/7/2007 2:35:53 PM

Daddy's Uniformed little Girl

This article originally ran in the Roanoke Chowan News Herald on Tuesday April 24 2007 Of all of the topics I have addressed in my columns, this one will surely create the most enemies for me. I bet however, this is the topic I will get the least amount of response from, and I'll explain why towards the end of the column. I had two epiphanies the other day while watching the world's reaction to the murders in Blacksburg VA last week. The first was that my three-year-old daughter Jamila has no clue who or what God or even the concept of God is. The second revelation that came to me almost immediately was that I'm not sure that I want her to know. While I know those statements seem blasphemous to the majority of our readers, I will now explain, finally, how I've come to that particular train of thought. I grew up in a time when attending Sunday School and church was pretty much mandatory for most families. When I moved to North Carolina the same ritual applied to my siblings and I as we made the trek to Indian Woods Baptist Church every Sunday morning to be taught the lessons of the gospel and Jesus Christ. Not long after leaving North Carolina to join the Army, I was introduced to the religion of Islam. Of the three major religions, Islam is the only one that I ever felt had a true pulse on the nature of mankind and what his relationship should be not just with our creator, but with the believers of other faiths as well. One of the reasons that I was so receptive to Islam was because after having Jesus forced down my throat as a child, anything that was outside of what I had been accustomed to was refreshing to say the least. Fortunately for me the religion of Islam almost mandates that its believers become well versed with the other two major faiths before they can comfortably say they have an understanding of God. In fact, Muslims know far more about Christianity and Judaism than those religions know about Islam, but that's not my point. My thirst for the knowledge of God eventually led me to conclude that all religions were man made attempts to explain the unknown and as they were all invented by men. I discounted them all and still do. My family still regards me as a Muslim even though I do not consider myself a religious person at all. I still pray five times a day, the way I was taught in Islam, but my prayers are to no specific entity, just to the universe as a whole. I do believe that some force greater than myself is responsible for my creation, but I don't think that anyone who wrote any of the so-called Holy books had a clue about who or what that force actually is/was. Personally I do not hold the writings of Europeans in the 13th and 14th centuries as the word of God, so that eliminated the Bible as a document rooted in fact as far as my studies concluded. As a man of color I figured that the only justification slavery was to assume the reason God allowed so many Africans to be stolen and made slaves in North America was so that Africans could be taught Christianity. That rationale comes from having traveled to the continent of Africa three times and realizing that all of the Christian Missionaries hovering around the continent are relatively recent in the great scheme of things. In other words, the slaves who were brought to the country were not Christians; in fact, over half of them were indeed Muslims who were forced to convert once they reached the plantations of America. Considering the state of Christian-Muslims relations today, I guess that made a lot of sense to slave owners. That dynamic pretty much put the entire concept of Christianity out of my mind forever. While I do not believe in any of the miracles attributed to Jesus during his life, I do believe in his existence and much of what he supposedly had to say. The fact that the Jewish faith pretty much looks at Jesus in the same vein that white America views Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. says to me that followers of the Jewish faith are 'haters' so that took care of them in my opinion. So as I ponder how to introduce my daughter to the concept of a higher power, I do not have access to any answers directly from the creator, just versions of flawed men, in some cases severely morally flawed men. Which made me wonder if she's better off letting God reveal himself/herself directly to her without the aid of some 4,000-year old text that does not at all fit with the world as we know it today, or her daddy who doesn't believe any of the hype anyway. That prospect both intrigues and scares me. Our judicial system is bricked and mortared on the basic tenants of morality as detailed in the Ten Commandments (which, by the way, the world owes the Jews a big thanks for). But if those Ten Commandments are nothing more than the inventions of European slave holders and murderers looking to pacify the masses so they could continue to reap the benefits of aristocracy, then what validity do they actually hold? Where is our moral center; in the hearts of mankind or in the words mankind uses to profess to know the mind of God? Do I introduce the concepts of 'right and wrong' to my daughter as an obligation to an omnipotent being or as the best way to ensure survival of her family and the species? The reason this column will create a nice buzz is because I write for a newspaper that lies in a terrain of 'blind conviction' to religion and more importantly because religion is big business nowadays. I do not expect very much response to the column however, because anytime I speak candidly about my thoughts on religion, everyone just clams up. That, more than anything else, allows me to see the world for what it is more often than not, full of false prophets and I don't want any of them messing with my daughter's relationship with her God. Whoever that may end up being. (0) Comments

Posted: 5/7/2007 2:14:21 PM

You and your family are gang members...act accordingly

<> Free Image Hosting by ImageCave.com That is my daughter Jamila in the above picture. Her mother took that photo Tuesday afternoon. I hope and pray that Jamila does not end up in a gang when she gets older. Then again the problem is what does society consider to be a gang? I know in certain cities in America, three or more teens standing in close proximity is considered a gang. If that applied to all of America then most offices staffs, people standing in lines at banks, grocery stores all of that should be considered potential gang hubs. So why is it that society is so quick to classify our youth as gangs and do teens feeds into all of the attention? My column this week addresses the concept of an infrastruture that is deigned to perpetuate what is tantamount to slave labor. If I make it to next week...it'll get much more intense. Peace, Holla back! (3) Comments

Posted: 3/27/2007 11:49:41 AM

National Politics: The Great Black Hope?

Is the United States really ready for a black president? Sure...wait I have to finish letting the pigs fly out of my butt! Check out the column below! Free Image Hosting by ImageCave.com As we watch the 2008 presidential election evolve into the inevitable brouhaha that we will have before us next year, watching Barack Obama being hoisted up as the great black hope has already begun to wear me down. I know you that many of you are saying; Sheesh Curly, are there any black candidates that you do like? Yes, unfortunately most of them are too good of people to consider running for a political office (drum hit). I like Obama; in fact I like him quite a bit. I would like very much to see him run for the U.S. Senate again or, even better, Governor of Illinois. The media’s darling candidate is obviously a very intelligent, insightful gentleman who has a good grasp on the pulse of the general public. He also has a Bill Clintonesque ability to make people feel as though he feels their pain and sees eye to eye with them. Those characteristics will surely work in his favor as his political future blossoms. Until recently, however, Obama has not enough political clout to think that he could get very much legislation passed. For that matter he has not had enough time in service dealing with many of the hot button topics that will serve as sound-bite-fuel for whoever gets voted into the White House, and his father’s last name is not Bush. Like any other black American, it is indeed a delight to see someone of color who knows enough about the game to garner the respect of the multitude of political pundits covering this historical race. Unfortunately, as much as I want to stand up and do a jig every time I see the Illinois Senator on television, I smell a rat. I do not see the Republicans coming up with a very viable candidate who could defeat my girl Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head race. Rudy Giulani? Please, if you think convincing the old heads in the Midwest and the south to vote for a black man or a woman is a hard sell, try getting them to vote for a New Yawk Italian, (pronounced eye-tal-ean round dem’ parts). McCain might actually be the best candidate currently in the field, but his waffling and flip-flopping on key issues are going to put him in a very precarious position at the GOP convention. Mitt Romney’s obsession with leading the public to heaven will be too much for many people to take seriously. Sam Brownback? President Brownback? Sounds too screwy. The best hope for the Republican Party is Barak Obama. I believe that in spite of the racial tension that still underlies much of our society, the relationship between whites and blacks is much stronger than the relationship between whites and any other ethnic group in America. While Clinton could possible steal the soccer mom vote from the GOP, Obama could weaken her enough to have democrats seriously considering a Gore/Edwards ticket, a ticket that a McCain/Giuliani grouping could easily slaughter. If the Democrats want to win the White House next year, they need to push, no shove, Clinton to the highest mountain in the land and stand firmly behind her regardless of whatever the right wing conspiracy (Clinton’s favorite enemies) throws at her. What I see with Obama is the illusion that the country is finally ready for a black man to represent us in full view of the world. I don’t care how many of them show up at Hollywood fund raisers and public rallies in support of ‘political soul brother number one’, I just don’t believe that tens of millions of white voters will close the curtain behind them on Election Tuesday and actually cast a vote for him. This not the television show ‘24’ and there will be no Keifer Sutherland character to call Obama and tell him in three decibels lower than everyone else around him is speaking to say “Mr. President, the good-old-boys are coming to get you, and by the way, do you have a throat lozenge?” The prospect of seriously considering either a woman or minority for the office of president is a concept long overdue, but in my opinion we’ll need black and female candidates in both parties to see the notion come to fruition. Next year’s presidential race is turning into the political equivalent of American Idol, and right now Obama is hot, hot, hot! But until a black man is arbitrarily welcome in the homes of white America physically, I don’t see him being welcome ideologically either. So, politicians have finally figured out how to use to black vote constructively, as a divider. So what’s new about that? Do you remember Rodney King standing in front of a podium trying to calm down rioting citizens of Los Angeles after officers who beat him senseless were aquitted in court for violating his civil rights? “Can’t we all just get along?” Yes we can all get along, as long as we keep our distance from each other. Which is why I don’t see Obama winning the Democratic nomination, let alone the presidency. Until white America recognizes social injustices and steps up to rectify it without the aid of black or hispanic citizens, there is no resaon to belive that the climate of racism in this country has gone anywhere. We have figured out how to get along, but that doesn’t mean we actually like each other. I know that sounds pretty harsh but it’s true. I have spent almost a year detailing the viewpoint of many black Americans concerning race relations in America particularly in this region. Honestly I do not feel as though I have accomplished very much at all. Aside from winning a writing award, I have not affected the mindset of my community. It might have been very idealistic of me to think that I could actually make a difference in society, even a society as small as the one we live in, but the reality of the situation is that the hatred and distrust that exists among black and white America runs too deep to fathom any sort of reconcilliation. I know most religious people belive there is an Armegeddon type of event on the horoizon (yeah, it’s called a meteor). That’s what it will take for people to begin to stand unified as human beings and not as races of human beings. If God almighty was to descend to earth today and proclaim that we must all learn to love each other or perish in flames, I think somebody better make a b-line toward the fire extinguishers. I told Judge Cy Grant last month that many times when I am asked to speak to groups, I feel as though they are not really concerned with what I think, I’m just the ‘talking monkey’ entertainment. I think that soon enough, Obama will begin to feel the same way. Peace ya’ll, I’m out. (0) Comments

Posted: 3/21/2007 2:43:37 PM

March 6th preview

I deal with a lot of black people in this region that want to stand up and jump around everytime they think somebody white has wronged them. That is the problem though, they are not concerned with the masses as much as they are self serving in their rhetoric. Me, I am anti-establishment 100 percent. I think that our judicial system is full of crap, our government is full of crooks and our society is wandering around like lost sheep being led to slaughter. We are at a point where revolution is neccessary, unfortunately we do not have the same type of soldiers living today that we had decades ago. Most of the so called black leaders today stood their asses in the background while real soldiers fought and died for their freedom. Now years later they want to stand up and shout as if they were revolutionaries when in actuality they were the background that survuved the 1960's and 1970's. I'm not impressed. (0) Comments

Posted: 3/19/2007 3:01:01 PM

Black Folks: March 6th column

Now that the holiday is over Some concluding thoughts now that Black History Month has come and gone. Last week a beautiful young lady caught up with me in MugShotz and told me that she was so happy that I did not have any allegiances with people here in the area. Her point was that I was free to write whatever I wanted, without fear of upsetting any of my friends. She is correct. I could name my friends on one hand and still have fingers left over. The main reason that I don’t socialize much is because I can only endure but so much hypocrisy, and the world has become exactly that in my view, a big ball of hypocrisy. If you know anything about me at all then you know I’m nobody’s choirboy. I never try to put on airs that I am someone ‘better’ or ‘smarter’ than anyone else, I just try to pay attention to what many people ignore and write about it. My travels across the globe as well as my life experiences, good and bad, help give me the perspective I have now. I share most of my fondest memories about the world not with the people in the world who are considered the elite or upper echelon, but rather with my brothers and sisters in the ‘hood’ who have not had the benefit of good leadership since the late 1960’s. I have been to the ‘hood’ on four different continents and guess what, the hood is the hood no matter what country that you live in. You see many, (I wanted to say most), black people who took advantage of the works of frontline soldiers like Dr. King, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Shirley Chisholm and others like them, began tasting the sweet nectar of the American Dream and forgot about the struggle in the ghettoes. Many of the leaders we have in front of us today are people who stood in the background while their brethren were in the faces of their oppressors insisting on change, dying for freedom. If they didn’t forget about the struggle altogether then they began categorizing the people who were on the low end of the totem pole as a lost generation, or just discounted them altogether. Which is why they have no chance whatsoever of reaching today’s youth. Once the kids in the ghetto feel as though you have elevated yourself above them, they no longer want anything to do with you; no matter how many programs or seminars you host, they will not change their viewpoint of society. They might not say it to your face because of course it has been suggested to them that they might want to respect their elders, but the disconnect between the haves and have-nots as well as black youth and black adults in this country has never been greater. Basically, black children look at the generations that preceded them and they conclude that all we did was get into bed with our enemies. A 17 year old high school student in Fayetteville told me last week that when he studied American history what jumped out at him was the way black people stopped fighting for what was theirs and decided to just go along with what white people thought was the right thing. The young man said he didn’t understand how black people got so deep into church and other aspects of American society when it was this same culture that was responsible for their enslavement to begin with. Whoa! This was a just a kid playing hoops at the local recreation center. From the mouths of babes huh? You see the war that blacks must fight right now is more internal than external. We first have to redefine what it is to be black in America, then lose stupid descriptive terms such as African-American, ridiculous concepts like Kwanzaa and vehicles for our perpetual demise such as Black Entertainment Television (which has not been owned by anyone black since 1999). Africans did not name their own continent Africa and the natives of this country did not name it America, so when you claim that term African American, you are claiming two names given to groups of people by Europeans. Kwanzaa is just flat out ludicrous from every conceivable vantage point, and trust me, if there was a station called White Entertainment Television, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would be picketing them right now. The reason we have lost the youth is because we lost our culture, our history, our names, our religion and obviously our minds. We will never recapture the youth until we can show them the same passion, courage and willingness to wage war against every facet of society that contributes to their struggle. February is not enough time to accomplish even a smidgen of that effort, and in my opinion makes the concept of Black History no more relevant than ‘affirmative action’ when it comes to sheer effectiveness. As long as today’s youth feel that we are “sleeping with the enemy” then expect them to not only continue to rebel, but to get more organized and passionate about their rebellion. Just like some of you used to do. (0) Comments

Posted: 3/19/2007 2:49:35 PM

Response to Hulda's answer

Thanks for the response Hulda! I always have a problem when the answer to a question of Christianity is centered on an assertion made in the Bible. The problem of course being, for people who view the Bible as nothing more than another book created by Europeans to fortify their religious beliefs, why we would hold that book in any more authority than the Koran, or the Kabbalah? Personally I don't believe that the Bible is any more authority on the truth about creation than any book that you or I might write. The authority of the book comes from individuals who you would first have to belive were divinely inpired(?) to begin with, and I have no confidence that Paul, John, Matthew, Luke, etc. were anything more than old school versions of bloggers. Authority to me is what's evdidenced by the world we see in front of us. Indisputable fact, or at least what a rationale human being would ackowledge as closer to truth than conjecture. People of every religion can offer testimony to support the belief in their religion. Of course the glue to any religion is the concept of faith. I have no faith whatsoever in any of the major religious books that have been offered to the world. When I see a book fall out of the sky, not penned by another mortal, then I will start turning cartwheels. Until then, as long as there another human being's name on the book, then it is just more space filler in Barnes & Noble. As I belive that you are obviously a person of faith, please do not take my comments as an attempt to belittle your viewpoints. I just would like for more people of faith to understand that there are many people who see these religious books as "books written by other men trying to prove their point", nothing more nothing less. (4) Comments

Posted: 2/18/2007 7:17:35 AM

Response to Ariana'a rebuttle

I'm not as much disagreeing with Ariana, as much as I am attempting to state the fact that what Amechi did by coming out a week before the All-star game and years after he was a serviceable player does not at all represent any facsimile of heroism. If he had come out while he was playing then his bravery alone would have to be recognized, and in that instance I could understand the gay comunity taking a cue from Amechi for having the guts to present himself in that light aginst an obvious climate of homophobia. Still, what the deal with the book? It's like people who tell you they can predict the future; why not hit a few Powerball's instead of trying to dupe people out of 39.95? Amechi's "coming out" was to promote a book; and that makes him a hero. Lastly, I don't care how the world looks at it, nobody is supposed to care about another individual's sexuality to begin with, so keep your mouth shut and be yourself. The gay community has tried to corner the market on the whole "He Hates Me" syndrome. Please...do what you do, nobody cares if you keep it to yourself. I deal with gay people in every walk of life which I'm involved in. Sometimes in the course of my job, I interview gay people. The topic of their sexuality never comes up, they do what they do and I do what I do, and it does not affect either of our ability to do our jobs. I do not at all agree with this connection of heroism and "coming out". Stright people talk about their sexuality in public all of the time, it's called pornography. The homosexual communty needs to give it a rest and stop trying to "Cash In" on their sexuality. Okay, Curly Morris is finally "coming out": I am a straight guy. I'm also a minority. Well, where's my applause. (2) Comments

Posted: 2/18/2007 6:57:25 AM

Everybody wants to be a hero

Who is the hero now? As soon as I heard about Tim Hardaway's comments about gay people, I immediatly knew that brother was in for hell in a handbasket. While we do have the right to free speech in the U.S., this is a country that is bricked and mortored on concepts of tolerance and freedom for all people. Timmy Crossover's position as a public figure requires even more diplomacy than the regular Joe Smoe on the street. I'm sure that if TH had taken three breaths before speaking he might have thought more wisely about what he said. All that being said, I think TH was firing the first shot of the counterattack. The counterattack that says it is insane and unproductive to the moral fabric of our society to glorify any individual and tab them as a "hero" for deciding to publish a book that essentially is a self absorbed tribute to their sexual preferences. Since when did "coming out" make you a hero? Obviously it doesn't take much to be a hero nowadays. So what John Amechi is gay? I personally wouldn't care if he held tea-parties with blow up dolls dressed as Margaret Thatcher. What a person does in the privacy of their own bedroom is not my concern. I don't think it's TH's concern either. But like TH, I get sick and tired of this concept that the homosexual community has some sort of shared suffering with minorities in this nation. I am in favor of hate crime laws that punish people for abusing anyone because of race, age, religion and even sexual preference. Enough with the homosexual community continuing to pander for the sympathies of the public like they were being burned at the stake in old world Salem Mass. The debate over whether or not an individual can be born gay will probably go on forever. So what? People are born without limbs, born with mental retardation, born deaf and born blind. When was the last time you heard of a person with Down's Syndrome being touted as a hero in the media? Which is a shame because people who have to overcome lifelong physical disabilities would have much more inspiring books for us to read, and for the media to blast all over front pages. But no, an able bodied former millionaire (soon to be a millionaire again) gets touted as a martyr because he decides that being gay amongst his friends and family wasn't enough. Amechi felt compelled to write a book about it and then to compund the hypocrisy, appear on every network posible to tell his story. Amechi's story is not at all unique. Millions of gay people live their lives the same way, cross dressers, B & B enthusiasts, swingers and heterosexuals live their sexual lives...in private. I now know this for a certainty, TH would not be the best person to negotiate a peace deal. His lack of diplomacy and rational thinking has been recognized now by everyone. Even more importantly, as evidenced by John Amechi's name being blasted all over the media, the world has started looking for heroes in all the wrong places. (1) Comments

Posted: 2/17/2007 5:27:16 AM

So many poets

I see there are quite a few poets here. My first book was comprised of 95% poetry with some fiction mixed in there as well. I also had four previously unpublished authors have their poems in the book so they could have at least one book credit. Below is one that many people told they enjoyed. I hope you do as well. I have thousands, literaly. I may do another poetry book later. (2) Comments

Posted: 2/15/2007 7:26:01 PM

Poem from New Word Order Vol. 1

No greater lover of beauty than I I beseech thee, allow me an ear "Art is suffering" My heels bear the blackened scars of countless tours thru purgatory This conspiracy against my very essence, is as much inside of my mind, as it is not inside of my mind. I feign fortitude. The diaphonous weapons I implore against my demise at the hands of caretakers, denigrate themselves as I stand idly by. Never did I have cause for optimism, not as a gainer of "things". In a physical sense I only found solace in peripheries of multiple bosoms, Excess in flesh, inspiring excess in spirit, surely no greater lover of beauty than I. Alas, my headrest will speak of the curses I spewed upon the weak, the attempts upon my life by the unworthy. At times I existed as a dragon, unworthy creatures would have had me slain, if it were not for the plot of the Gods themselves for me to speak on their behalf, for they cower at the judgements of men. I speak, due to their cowardice, and for that I became relegated to a most severe punishment. Still I encounter amusing thoughts at their expense, the only recompense against such foul beings as Gods Surely, no greater lover of beauty than I. I will allow my echo to bellow across the dunes and dungeons, if it pleases you, do not stoop to thank me for I do not give my tongue in earnest gaiety. But rather as capitulation of the relationship thrust upon me by light of life itself, as witness to the grand symphony, forced to summarize all that I have been privy to observe. The only console is Surely, there is no greater lover of beauty than I (1) Comments

Posted: 2/15/2007 7:23:59 PM

Today's article

I have been wanting to discuss black people and Christianity for some time now, but I have held off because I knew as soon as I did, that would effectively be the end of me here at this newspaper. But right now, I'm tired, stressed out and probably going to jail tommorrow, so I really don't care. My own people are sucking the lifeforce right out of me. The least they can do is listen to the truth...again. Enjoy, or not. (1) Comments

Posted: 2/12/2007 7:50:06 PM

Black Folks: Ya'll listen to your uncle now, ya'hear?

"I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur my own abhorrence." Fredrick Douglass It took me almost two weeks to realize that it was Black History Month. It's not like the signs weren't everywhere, for me to see, it just took me a minute to recognize them. God knows I should've known after watching the Super Bowl last week. Every announcer covering the event reminded us of the historical significance of having both the first and second black coaches to ever lead their teams to the big game. Unfortunately, I heard it so much that it began to sound like corporate sponsor jargon. The racial spin was only a day away from having its own logo. The month of February has kind of become that way to me. I know there are Valentines Day, Black History Month and Lincoln's birthday. It is also the month in which Fredrick Douglass was born, the man who the holiday was created for. (Did I just call Black History Month a holiday?) Dr. Carter G. Woodson, creator of Black History Week, which eventually evolved into Black History Month, said he wanted to honor the birthdays of Douglass and Lincoln, as the two men had done so much for the black community. What most people do not know is that Lincoln was actually in favor of a plan to send slaves back to Africa. That's not where I'm going with this right now, so I'll leave it alone. Did you know that both Lincoln and Douglass were both members of the Republican Party? (More food for thought that I will get to at a later date) What's on my mind right now is the confusion that this month causes me, and why it's so easy to take it as passé in today's climate. You see being black in America is not as easy as it might seem, mainly because of the identity confusion. Black History Month is designed to celebrate the history of African Americans, and the group that will lead the charge for celebrating it is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Can you understand my confusion? My freshman year in college my roommate was a guy named Craig Aiken. Craig was a white kid with flaming red hair and freckles. Craig was also a native of South Africa, so that would mean if he decided to marry an American woman and gain citizenship in this country he would have to be considered an African American right? He would certainly be more of an African American than me. I'm sure that wouldn't go over too well at Howard University or Morehouse College if Craig tried to assimilate with the current students who consider themselves African Americans. It's sort of like the sons and daughter of slaves adopting the religion of Christianity, I just don't get it. If a religion is beat into your grandparents, who fought and died to vigorously hold on to their original culture and customs, you would think that as soon as there was an opportunity to do so, their kin would reestablish their communities with the customs of their forefathers. I'm done with that concept however, because we're too deep into the church game to even consider trying to seek truth about this matter. I find this particularly strange because we managed to come up with this ridiculous concept of Kwanzaa to substitute for Christmas. Do you know why there is no African version of Christmas? Because Africans didn't celebrate Christmas! Also, since we're on black history, understand that there are 53 nations on the continent we know as Africa. Each of these nations has their own customs, traditions and history. If you were to meet someone who was born in the country Nigeria or Egypt he or she would not introduce himself or herself as African, they would say that they are Nigerian or Egyptian. Still, the "African" tag blankets every concept that involves the ancestors of American slaves even though many people of color in this country have either Caribbean or South American ancestry. It's not that we don't desire to have some connection with our origins; it's just that we aren't really concerned with making a true connection. While many blacks want to put forward the impression of wanting to represent the group of people who endured slavery on this continent, we usually stop far short of truth. I understand, nobody wants to rock the boat too hard. I mean it has already been a hard fight to get this far, having to assimilate with a culture and mindset that views us as second-class human beings. Good jobs, nice homes and clothes and college degrees made the struggle not one to return to concepts indigenous to the original slaves, but rather one of inclusion into the mainstream. They are, in fact, two different struggles. I read somewhere that when assisting with the television version of his monumental book Roots, Alex Haley struggled with a particular scene. It is one of the most memorable scenes in the movie in fact. When the character Toby, played by John Amos, is presenting his newborn daughter to God he refers to God as Allah. Haley was afraid this reference to he what he found to be the religion of his ancestors might alienate him from the majority of black Americans who had placed themselves solidly in the religion of Christianity. Of course, blacks just ignored that part of the movie and moved on. Like I almost did Black History Month. (1) Comments

Posted: 2/12/2007 7:47:37 PM

02/06/2007 column

The day the music died On many occasions I receive e-mails or phone calls telling me how brave I am to address certain topics in public. While I do appreciate the sentiment, my feeling is that I am not necessarily courageous for speaking the truth. I would be failing myself if I kept quiet however. Unfortunately, most of the time I don’t feel as though my readers are actually paying attention when I do approach a sensitive topic. So I’ve begun addressing my columns in more depth in my blog, which you are free to read at http://curlymo.newblog.com. Understand that these are extensions of my column not endorsed or edited by the News Herald. I am a product of the original hip-hop generation. While growing up in the Bronx, I watched the birth of rap music before there was ever a rap record. I knew all the early pioneers of rap as they used to come perform in my housing project on 143rd and Willis Avenue. My block in the Bronx was no joke; I watched my father get stabbed once and collapse right in front of my brother and I as he tried to make it to the fire station. My friend Lamont and I had to jump out of the way of bullets when two guys were shot to death in the lobby of my building when I was ten years old. I saw a woman who was just in a car accident get shot in the head by the driver of the car that she hit, in a case of road rage that almost turned horribly wrong when the shooter turned his gun and pointed it at me and my friends who happened to be onlookers. Fortunately for us he decided not to shoot, but rather try and make an escape. When I hear today’s rap artists claim to be hardcore, I don’t feel the same authenticity because most of today’s youth violence is generated by drug culture gone awry. I explained in the Column “The Beef Bacon Theory” how the cocaine trade is facilitated by the U.S. Government, which makes mandatory sentencing a double slap to minorities (read about it on my web page). There are still some rap artists with something positive and or insightful to say and if any of you were inclined to listen to them you’d be surprised at the level of awareness displayed by some of today’s rappers. Case in point check out this gem by The Roots on the song “It don’t feel right” “Children working weapon producing, natural disasters got the planet in a panic, but ya’ll go to make that livin’ sex, drugs, murder, politics and religion, forms of hustlin’, watch who you put all your trust in, world-wide we coincide with who’s sufferin’, who never had jack and ain’t got nothin’ but most are strugglin’ and if you want to run up in the (explicative) with guns on for a piece of the cake back, if I can’t work for it, I can certainly take that, I’m fired up thinking about the pay back ASAP, You mess around and be an enemy of the state black. Ill, but that be too real for T.V., It’s crazy when you too real to be free, If you ain’t got no money then steal the CD, Listen man I let you know how it feels To be me.” That’s poetry. Poetry which explains the way many disenfranchised youth view the world around them. I opened my first book with a poem call “Absird Speaks”, which sums up my experiences in this life, particularly the United States. “I get sick of big brother’s English, so I speak slang and Ebonics, creating new organisms with electronics. Everybody else is hooked on phonics, Brainwashed by the devil, Upset with me because I’m level. They say that I’m insane, They use morality to penetrate my membrane, It’s psuedo culture, I swoop down just like a vulture, A bird of prey, leading the way, For all of those the status quo would slay. They’re all fanatics. I use literary acrobatics to preach my sermon, So it can’t be decoded by the vermin, The unaware, that would stop and stare at my light, Telling the animals they’ve got the right, To speak, opposing thumbs got them feeling weak. I guess it’s in the scripture, But before words there were pictures, And they told a different story, and the end was not so hunky dory. So who knows more? The preachers or the writers? The teachers or the humorist reciters? I see ya’ll at the concerts flicking lighters, But I’ve got eternal flame, And soon you will all know my name.” Now that’s music, to somebody anyway. Peace, holla back. (0) Comments

Posted: 2/7/2007 3:52:39 PM

National Politics: I think you all just don't care

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it." Martin Luther King, Jr. Of all the columns I've written, none was as important to me as "The Beef Bacon Theory". Guess what? Everybody ignored it. Let's clear something up here...in fact I will caps the next sentence so maybe you'll remember what I was talking about. THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IS HELPING TO FACILTATE THE INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRADE! PURPOSELY! Whew...all that screaming. Our judicial system is being bricked and mortored on the backs of young black males in the ghetto. We have created a system in this country where the feds go cut deals to get drugs brought into this country by giving certain Columbians and Afghans free reign to travel with dilpomatic immunity. This is usually traded for future access and/or information at a later date. Then in order to pretend they care about the tens of millions of people who get high on the drugs they bought into the country, they pass legislation to make the police appear tough on drugs. Then they recycle drug users and dealers in and out of the system making them pay as they go in order to support the network of baby sitters they employ to manage the "druggie" until they are ready to move them to a private prison where they can then make them work for pennies on the dollar. It is, in fact, the new slavery. I know many law enforcemnet officials who I think deep down are good people. But I don't hear a single one of them fighting mandatory sentencing or private prisons. Americans continue to get force fed spin versions of the news to portray the drug problem in the hood as national problem How do you think the drugs get into this country? Who the hell do you think is bringing all of the guns into the US? The answers to these questions are so obvious and evident that it boggles my mind that so many people just shut up about it. I guess that's the punk in them. The reason my brother left law enforcement is because he said that after a while he couldn't stomach the hypocrisy anymore (he has a B.S degree in psychology and a masters in socialolgy). Day after day after day, the system continues to push more and more young blacks throught the system, spending tens of millions of dollars on a so called war on drugs. But nobody can spot the 20 BILLION TONS of drugs that manage to cross our borders every year. I can't walk down the street and spit without getting arrested, but somebody is bringing boat-loads of coacine and heroin into the country everyday anD nobody sees it? Over 10,000 guns are bought into the US illegalLY EVERY MONTH and nobody sees it, but they can find "trace weed" in a water bottle at the airport. I have no choice but to go along with the police when I get arrested, I don't have the money to "buy justice" that's why a person like me can get 2 years if 30 dollars of dope is found in my car. See if I had 30 TONS of dope in my car I would get a federal escort and a sweet lawyer to help me sue the city if someone searches my dope truck. There was a new prison built just down the road from my ofice. The prison is filled with black men, and guarded by black women (mostly). Most of those prisoners were arested by black police, sentenced by black judges, and baby sitted by black probation oficers...and somewhere, the white man who flew the plane to get the dope overhere is laughing his ass off when he asks his cousin the Senator, or the Governor or the business mogul how's the war on drugs going. Oh it's going just swell if you're playing both sides of it. "History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." Martin Luther King, Jr. (0) Comments

Posted: 1/28/2007 10:42:48 PM

National Politics: The truth no one wants to hear

Finally, the beef bacon theory Thanks to all of the people who took the time to respond to last week’s column, “Where did all the bones come from?” The most unexpected response came from a 14-year-old boy in Texas named Drew who pretty much took religion to task for failing to produce any tangible evidence of an omniscient supreme being. Drew acknowledges the existence of one or more higher beings, but is more convinced of the existence of dinosaurs than the Son of God. The best response came from M. Hart, who called me out for baiting my audience into a set of facts that are challengeable themselves, primarily the assumption that dinosaurs and mankind co-exited. Thanks for all of your responses; you guys are great. Now, the moment I have been waiting years for. I present to you, my ‘Beef Bacon’ theory. Growing up, my father never allowed us to eat pork. So I grew accustomed to searching for beef bacon whenever I wanted to add some traditional symmetry to my breakfast meals. If you live in a part of the country where is there is a significant Jewish or Muslim population, then finding non-pork products is not too difficult of a task. More often than not, rural areas of the country especially in the south and Midwest would not stock beef bacon on their shelves. It’s the ‘supply and demand’ theory; if there is no demand, why bother keeping a supply. Fast forward to 2002 when I was a shift supervisor at a hot dog manufacturing plant. I witnessed first hand the distribution network necessary to facilitate our company making the beef related specialty products we produced, and the multitude of individuals needed to make that distribution work. Consider that right now, all over the country, there are restaurants, schools, prisons, airplanes, hotels, street vendors, hospitals and supermarkets that are delivering hamburgers, steaks, hot dogs and ground beef to consumers upon demand. Can you imagine the manpower needed for that type of effort in the U.S. alone? Let alone the entire globe. In 2005 the US imported nearly four billion pounds of beef. In order for a steak to make it to your dinner table it takes farmers, truck drivers, slaughterers, more truck drivers, manufacturing plants, more truck drivers, USDA agents, Federal import and export agents, cargo ships, dock workers, supermarket employees and advertising companies. Still, it is still not economically feasible to put beef bacon on most supermarket shelves. Yet, I have never been anywhere in the United States of America where there weren’t crack dealers. Now explain to me how if all the aforementioned labor force cannot manage to get beef bacon into the majority of US markets, the government would have me believe that “Pookie” and “Junebug” managed to get crack to infiltrate the entire nation? The U.S. is always talking about a war on drugs; really, where? There is no war on drugs; there is a war over drugs. I could spend four pages detailing Afghanistan the Taliban and their connection in the international drug trade, but I’ll digress because that story leads right back to the White House and I know that you would rather hear about the great job we are doing in Iraq. The amount of cocaine that comes into this country would boggle your mind. That’s why when I hear about four law enforcement officers (minimum combined salary ($80,000) recovering three grams of crack (maximum sale value ($60), I don’t jump up and down and say whoopee. The United States judicial system is profiting off of the drug trade like Budweiser at a ‘tractor pull’. The system of Border Control, DEA, local task forces, beat officers, sheriffs and deputies, district attorneys, defense attorneys, probation officers, rehab specialists, drug treatment clinics, D.A.R.E. program officials and whoever else that has specialized careers that focus on controlled substances is a self perpetuating cash cow. The system ‘re-ups’ with probation fees, bond fees, court costs, lawyer fees, confiscated vehicles and property seizures. The system keeps its primary labor force through, mandatory sentencing, specialized appointments of black judges and believe it or not, Black Entertainment Television. Everybody is getting rich off the backs of young black males in the ghetto. Sort of like slavery huh? Now don’t get me wrong, breaking the law is breaking the law. But when the methodology of enforcing any law allows for officials to create a police state in the part of the equation that is on the low end of the economic pie of the industry, you have to wonder who decides to not pursue the ‘big dogs’ of the drug trade? Do American citizens actually think that the hundreds of millions of dollars that are spent on drugs in this country only come from ‘the hood’, where the annual income for a family of four is less than $18,000 per year? So here is your word problem for the class ‘War on Drugs 101’. If it takes 10,000 people and 500 government officials to put beef bacon in 35% of the country; how many people and government officials does it take to put cocaine in 100% of the same country? Here’s another one. Since the courts have deemed that cigarettes are addictive, occasionally fatal and purposely made to be that way, then why don’t we have a war on tobacco? Last time I looked, it was growing and being picked and harvested in fields all around me, just like drug dealers. (0) Comments

Posted: 1/28/2007 10:23:16 PM

White Folks: I is sho sorry I sayd dat massuh

White people luvvvv for me to talk about my own community, but God forbid I turn the mirror back on them. Oh well. (0) Comments

Posted: 1/28/2007 10:21:34 PM

White Folks: Next time I'll wear a robe and sandals

This suspect always fits the description After three months of working for the News Herald, I have finally found a regular lunch spot. I will refrain from saying what eatery it is that has caught my fancy, but I will say this; in this heat, an all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar is not only good eating but also smart eating. Nevertheless, I was doing lunch the way I do most days, solo, and two white women came to eat and were seated two tables away. As they got up to visit the salad bar, one of them paused, glanced over at me and went back to her table to retrieve what looked to be several dollars from her purse and tried to inconspicuously slide them in her pocket. Let me explain something clearly, bigotry is not something that can be explained or understood, it can only be experienced. Most people I know are not bigots, but quite many are indeed prejudiced, and that goes for blacks, whites, Asians and Hispanics. Comedians, especially black comedians, have made a living telling racially charged jokes. The basic premise is that blacks have a right to address racial issues in jest, because of the understood suffering blacks endured in the early inception of our nation. Most white people make every attempt to stay clear of racial jokes, at least in the company of blacks, for fear of being branded a racist and having to endure the public backlash of a liberal media. Unfortunately, dodging racial tensions have become more difficult and important than the underlying process that allows for racial stereotypes to develop in the first place. Did that woman really think that I was going to get up from my table where I was having lunch to go steal some piddling dollars from her purse? For those of you who are accustomed to seeing me dressed like LL Cool J, on this particular day I was actually wearing slacks, a polo style shirt and brown oxfords. I was also reading a book that I had borrowed from Thadd; a book written by a nationally known white sportscaster whose picture is on the cover. So let me get this straight, this woman looks at a man having lunch, wearing slacks, shirt and shoes, reading a book with a white man on the cover, and she was afraid that I was going to steal from her? Sure, but the question is why? I understand this dynamic, sort of. I like to think that I’m a smart enough person to know that the color of a person’s skin does not indicate anything except possibly the race of their parents. In this week’s News Herald we’ve already run stories about a home invader, a bank robber, a road rage murderer and two wannabe drug kingpins, all of whom were described in part as “a black male”. Again, I understand this dynamic, sort of. I wonder however if instead of a ‘black male’ at the table, it was North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black and former state representative Michael Decker sitting there, would she have been concerned about either of them stealing from her? From what I’ve been reading lately, she should’ve been. The differences between people primarily lies in perception, and perception is based on a person’s knowledge. If that knowledge is formed by years of academic study, good family values and interaction with varieties of people, then the perception of that person will probably be influenced by brainpower. If that knowledge is passed down from other individuals whose perception was flawed due to their lack of intellectualism, then you’ll get what bigots of today have to offer. So for the sake of creating a new perspective that doesn’t make articles like this appear controversial, let’s replace the word bigot with the word flawed, and let’s call non-bigots regular. I’m accustomed to dealing with flawed people as much as I’m used to dealing with regular people. I went to college in Nebraska, where blacks total only two percent of the state’s population. Most of my career has been spent in management or administration where my minority status doubles as soon as I enter the building. So what have I done to not be turned into flawed person? I don’t know, it never seemed to occupy my mind long enough to even care. I just accept the fact that there are flawed people in the world who will dislike me for things that I have no control over. The restaurant situation isn’t the only time in recent months that I’ve been obviously sized up and graded before I’ve even opened my mouth, but it is the one incident that has left the worse taste in mouth, because all I was doing was having lunch. (0) Comments

Posted: 1/28/2007 10:17:27 PM

Black Folks: Let niggas just be niggas?

Yo homey, peep out my column Okay, this is not going to be very pretty. When I refer to the ‘n’ word, I’m pretty confident that most of you know what word I’m referring to, so let me jump straight into it. A few weeks back I was at a high school taking pictures of the football team practicing. In one area of the practice field the quarterbacks, four black kids, were doing some drills, while a white coach stood by and monitored them. As I approached the area where the players were doing their drills I could hear their conversation, and I was both ashamed and appalled. Here’s a sample of what the kids were saying, paraphrased of course; “Yo man, that ‘n’ had on some new Jordans, they were hot.” “For real? ‘N’ I want to get me some of those new black joints.” “Man I know this ‘n’ that got like all the new sneakers and the sweat suit that goes with them.” “Yeah man, that ‘n’ be ballin’ yo.” Now keep in mind that this conversation took place in front of a coach and a newspaper reporter, and it never crossed either of these kids minds that what they were doing was socially unacceptable. The ‘n’ word was tossed around like confetti in front of a white educator. As sad as I was to have to hear that conversation during an official practice, it was even sadder watching the white coach having to endure that conversation and try to act as if it didn’t bother him. I’m sure that the coach, who was probably in his mid-forties, has watched an entire generation of black youth evolve into something significantly different than the black kids he grew up with. When that white coach was an student in school, he probably watched black kids work their butts off to prove that they were intellectual equals to their white counterparts. The need for acceptance into ‘White America’ was a driving force behind the process of creating equal opportunity for blacks in this country. Early civil rights pioneers worked tirelessly to educate their children in spite of substandard educational opportunities, so that future generations would be judged for their minds, and not the color of their skin. There has been an effort by corporate America for some time now to incorporate the new “hip-hop” culture into promotional initiatives, as corporate America has recognized how much money black people are willing to spend on ‘fly-by-night fads and items that exacerbate the ‘gansta’ mentality. So when I recently got wind of a grant that a local school was interested in obtaining that would be used to teach educators the rules of “Ebonics”, I was disgusted to say the least. For those of you that don’t know, “Ebonics” (which by the way I’m forced to capitalize on my word processor), is defined by Dictionary.com as “Black English”. Let me repeat that, Ebonics is defined on the leading online dictionary as “Black English”. So this push by educators in several areas of the country is saying what exactly? That white teachers need to be taught how black people speak so that they can teach them better? I don’t know if that is more insulting than it is stupid, or vice versa. The last thing that black kids today need is a free pass from having to distinguish when and where they might want to be cognizant of proper speech. I’m sure that Buddy’s Pool Hall and Joe’s Car Wash might let you get a job without having learned the proper annunciation of the English language. If you want career as a doctor, lawyer, police officer, teacher or, for that matter, a door greeter you might want to brush up on traditional English, and maybe buy a suit. Do I think that the educators who attempt to introduce these types of grants and programs have less than honorable motivations when they speak about how great it would be if white teachers could talk jive? No, it’s just another case of how disconnected from the reality of the declining social etiquette of black kids, and further attempts to dumb down the system to allow more numbers of kids to pass through and receive whatever additional grants and funding that come along with higher numbers. Sort of like EOG exams, another brainstorm of somebody that had no clue on how to properly educate children. EOG exams do not come close to articulating what a child has retained in school or whether or not they have developed any social or cultural skills. It is a test that says simply, ‘if you pass this test, then you pass this class’. It’s funny how the leaders of our educational system put so much emphasis on exams that they themselves never had to take to get where they are today. If you think that my obvious passion about this subject is a bit overboard, I invite you to visit a couple of web sites that offer Ebonics dictionaries and Ebonics translators and you will quickly understand my ire. Black kids today don’t need to be told that if they don’t feel like speaking properly it’s okay; the teacher will learn to speak like them. What they need is to be made to understand that it is imperative for them to learn as much, if not more, about the proper use of language as their white counterparts, as they are already starting the race from the back of the pack. Don’t do these kids any more favors trying to recreate educational systems that incorporate the lesser dynamic of the black experience. I know several dozen black men and women with the letter PhD in front of their names and they had to learn English properly and as soon as possible. Comedian Chris Rock once said that he would hear white people talking about former Secretary of State Colin Powell saying things like ‘he speaks so well ‘. Rock’s assertion was that is something you would say about a monkey, not a college graduate. How was he supposed to speak? Oh that’s right, with Black English. (1) Comments

Posted: 1/28/2007 10:16:12 PM

National Politics: My man Dubya

I spent quite a bit of time slamming president George Bush last year. I don't think that Dubya is the worst person in America, but he's trying. What he has done to our nation in my mind is impeachable at best, and treasoness at worst. Of course where I live, many whites are in the minority politically so I had a bunch of rednecks and white supremist bloggers try to throw me under the bus whenever I spoke about their hero. But I knew that sooner or later the American public would get tired of his lies and arrogance. It's just too bad they let him Rummy and Cheney make so much blood money before making a change. If the Democrats want to really regain the public trust they will figure out a way to bring Bush and his cronies up on criminal charges. I know black men that are doing several dozens of years for one murder, Bush is responsible for tens of thousands. But because he does it while siting in the oval office, not only does he get away with it, but he has people rallying behind him. George Bush has been my measruing stick to determine the true nature of many people who I've met since I've been in North Carolina. How so? Okay watch this...for all of my white readers...if I told you that no matter what the evidence says, no matter how thorough the police investigation may have been, no matter how absolutely to the contrary to his own story every fact that was laid out in front of me suggests, I still don't think O.J. had anything to do with those murders; what would you think of me? Exactly. That's what I say when you try to defend this president. (0) Comments

Posted: 1/28/2007 10:12:26 PM

National Politics: He only lies when his lips move

Stem cells, sleeper cells, and jail cells “Many of us believe that wrongs aren't wrong if they’re done by nice people like ourselves.”-author unknown I can tolerate a liar more than I can tolerate a hypocrite. People lie all of the time, sometimes the lies are just bigger than others. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, both lies. “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”, lie. “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit”, lie. “Iraq has stockpiled weapons of mass destruction”, lie. Law enforcement officers hear lies most of the time they are on the job. They usually ignore them and proceed forward until they get to the truth. The Merriam Webster online dictionary gives two definitions of a hypocrite. The first definition says that a hypocrite is a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion. Since the first definition of any word in a dictionary is traditionally the most commonly accepted version, I’ll stop right there. For anyone who has staggered out of a nightclub at 5 a.m., took a nap and went straight to church wearing the same clothes, don’t worry, I’m not picking on you. The president of my home country, on the other hand, has some issues I’d like to address. On Wednesday, President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would allow increased federal funding for new stem cell research. “This bill would support the taking of innocent human life, in the hope of finding medical benefits for others,” Bush said. “It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect.” This is the same person that oversaw 153 executions as Governor of Texas. DNA evidence suggests that at least 10 of those executed under Bush’s watch were innocent. Somewhere, over 39,000 civilians killed during our occupation of Iraq are cringing in their graves. I assume those deaths do not cross any supposed moral boundary since the majority of our House and Senate gave permission for our nation to go bomb Iraq (based on a lie I might add). The House and Senate are supposed to be representations of the American public, so in theory it was all of us who agreed to go to war. It’s funny how we as a society manage to find ways to condone killing a human being on one hand, but claim the same action under the guise of medicine or religion to be an inalienable right. Why did we go to war with Iraq? Religion disguised as terrorism. There are some Muslims who don’t like the United States and feel justified to attack us in order to please God. Why is there war between Israel and Lebanon right now? Religion disguised as property rights. Muslims and Jews have had a hate-hate relationship since the two entities decided that God deemed each group as chosen people. What is the justification for the United States to bomb and declare war on foreign nations? Manifest destiny disguised as religion? In an interview with ABC’s Charles Gibson, President Bush said that he believed that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. I find it interesting that the president would claim to share a God with Muslims, and not Jews, but has aligned our nation with Jews in a war against Muslims. Even more interesting is that nobody seems to mind the hypocrisy. Most religious people claim that the same Supreme Being created everything in heaven and on earth. So at what time did that Supreme Being start choosing favorites and giving permission for some countries to drop atomic bombs? Crash planes into buildings? Or pull the switch on an electric chair? The hypocrisy of our society lies in the weird dynamic that exists between the death penalty and abortion. On one hand, it’s not okay to kill someone, but it’s okay to kill someone who kills someone. The US government allows for abortion to be considered a medical practice and does not prosecute abortion doctors for murder. Yet the courts will execute any person who kills an abortion doctor. Our country condemns nations for developing weapons of mass destruction then uses weapons of mass destruction to keep other countries from developing weapons of mass destruction. I assume there is a book somewhere that I have not been privileged to read named “Murder Etiquette 101; When God gives permission to kill.” If you stumble across a copy please tell me where I can pick one up. Then I can tell when I’m being lied to, when a hypocrite is speaking, or when God said it was okay to take a life. Right now I’m a little confused. (0) Comments

Posted: 1/28/2007 10:04:03 PM

National Politics: The White House is lying to you...again

Fascists, lies and presidential videotape “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” Theodore Roosevelt, Republican President (Ohio) 1901-1909. I’ve been called many things in my life, but I never expected to be called a fascist by the Secretary of Defense. I’m not the only person Donald Rumsfeld was referring to in his speech to the Salt Lake City American Legion where he compared critics of the Bush Administration to people who sought to appease Nazi’s before World War II. By Rumsfeld’s account, the 48 percent of Americans who did not vote for his Commander-in-Chief and the 75 percent of Americans polled, who now think that the war in Iraq was a bad idea, are all initiating a new type of fascism. For my politically challenged readers, fascism is defined as a governmental concept that is led by a dictator that has complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism. So, declaring yourself the winner of an election where you received 47 percent of the total vote when your main competition received 48 percent doesn’t make you a fascist? I guess lying to the American public about Iraq’s affiliation to terrorist group Al-Qaeda in order to justify a personal grudge against Sadaam Hussein and advance the business interests of your vice president doesn’t make you a fascist either? What about declaring half-mile “no protest zones” wherever the president speaks and then arresting American citizens for exercising their constitutional right of free speech by holding up protest signs. Does that make you a fascist? Obviously Rumsfeld doesn’t think so. The most disheartening aspect of Bush’s deplorable tenure as president is not the 2,600 American deaths and 20,000 Americans wounded in the Iraq war, nor is it the insane cost of gasoline and the steady rise of the national debt. It’s not even the horrific manner in which the president’s incompetent cronies managed to bungle the relief efforts, or lack thereof, in New Orleans during the Hurricane Katrina crisis. No, the most disheartening aspect of Bush’s tenure has been the unwillingness of tens of millions of American citizens to admit that they made a huge mistake in deciding that Bush was the best candidate we could offer to lead our nation. Let me state clearly, I am not a member of the Democratic Party; I am an independent thinker and voter. I do not at all like the way that black Americans have climbed into the Democrat’s bed with blind conviction as if that party has done something to earn our eternal allegiance, but more on that at a later date. In my opinion, the greatest thing about being an ‘African American’ is the freedom that brave men and women fought and died for me to have. Those brave people have come in the form of men, women, black, white, Latino, Asian and Native American. The only way to repay someone that has died on your behalf is to spend the remainder of your life ensuring forces unworthy of their heroism never compromise their sacrifices. During an interview at the White House last week, President Bush was asked by Cox News’ Ken Herman what Iraq had to do with 9/11. “Nothing,” Bush said. “Absolutely nothing.” If you don’t believe me, the press conference is posted all over the Internet. Bush had just as well made that statement to the families of every soldier killed or maimed in the Iraq war. I can’t imagine how the mother of a child blown up by Iraqi insurgents must have felt when she heard that. What’s worse is that if any mother of a slain soldier wanted to make a peaceful protest to Bush’s blunder, she’d better make sure that she stays at least a half-mile away, or she’ll be arrested. If you don’t believe that’s true, again, I invite you to do your research. Despite the obvious damage that has been done to the reputation of our nation abroad and the evident disregard of American life shown by the current president, you’d be hard pressed to find a Republican willing to admit that the atrocities of this president should call for his immediate impeachment. When Bill Clinton was president, he was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice. While both charges might be considered morally apprehensible for a person in his position, not a single drop of American blood was spilled for Clinton’s actions and the economy actually improved. Only three Democrats in Washington voted in favor of Clinton’s impeachment, primarily because the Democrats did not want to give the Republicans the satisfaction of what was tantamount to an ideological coup. There was no rush by Democrats to absolve Clinton for his actions, as he was humbled into making a national apology. With the exception of a small number of politicians fighting for their mid-term election lives, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who voted for Bush, apologizing for his failures. In fact most Republicans I speak to or see on television still try to defend the man and his actions. That is what bothers me the most. I don’t care if my neighbor and I disagree in matters of politics, religion, education or even football teams. The possibility for endless debate is what motivates me toward further enhancing my knowledge and understanding of the world I live in. It saddens me, however, when the highest ranking government official in the country disagrees with nearly half his constituency about the value of human life and human freedoms. Especially when my neighbor agrees with him. (0) Comments

Posted: 1/28/2007 9:58:51 PM

National Politics: Why me and Kanye West...(especially me) does not like George Bush

The lucky black man that is me It’s funny how whenever I decide to take my own community to task for irresponsible behavior, I’m great journalist, but whenever I throw President George Bush and his crew under the bus, all of the sudden I don’t know what I’m talking about. So let me give you the history of how I came to dislike the current administration. First of all you need to check out the cartoon that is hovering right above this column. See it? Yeah, we have to go back that far to understand where I’m coming from. Are you familiar with the term “Maafa”? Probably not. Maafa means Holocaust in Swahili. It is the term used to describe the Atlantic Slave trade, when at least 55 million African natives were kidnapped from their homes and families and transported to the United States of America to live and die as slaves for early American settlers. I’ve heard that the number of stolen Africans is probably closer to 100 million, but for the sake of giving my detractors fewer facts to debate, I’ll go with the low-ball figure that encyclopedias would like for us to settle on. According to Wikipedia, the internet’s largest online encyclopedia, at least 20 million Africans died in what is called “The Horrific Middle Passage”, which was the waterway vessels traveled when transporting Africans to this continent. Horrific really doesn’t do the journey any justice as a descriptive term. Africans were forced to lie in their own urine and feces, cramped together like cattle for months, being fed in a trough system the same way farmers feed hogs. With no available medical treatment or sanitation system, many were thrown into the Atlantic Ocean if they fell ill or, God forbid, had a child in the bottom of the ship. I don’t really have the space to get into many more details, unfortunately. Nevertheless, many Africans did in fact survive the journey. What waited for them was a group of people that had arrived on a continent that was new to them and promptly proclaimed that God had ordained this continent for their use, regardless of the fact that there were already civilizations living here (see above cartoon). These people then informed these stolen Africans that they were here to work, for free, and if they disagreed then a brutal beating or death would follow. The complexion of my skin and many other light skin blacks tells the rape and sexual abuse story, so I’ll leave that alone. Couple that with the fact that the stolen Africans had never heard of the “Son of God” before they arrived and it is easy to see how those Africans must have been in shock for what, maybe four hundred years? Those Africans that I speak of were my ancestors. The reason that I am here is because my ancestors were stolen and forced into a life of servitude and brutality, unparalleled in the history of modern mankind. So when I hear our government condemn the plight of Kurds in Iraq or women in Afghanistan and use those atrocities as a cause to go to war, excuse me if I sneer at the hypocrisy. Over the hundreds of years that the U.S.A. has been in existence, much has changed. Slavery died a slow death and a civil rights effort, led by both blacks and whites, eventually elevated the stolen African to a modicum of humanity, albeit a humanity still unequal to his former slave masters. I do not hold the history of slavery against every white person in America; that would be insane. I do, however, recognize that at the height of the civil rights movement, when blacks in this country were still being attacked with high powered water hoses, having police dogs set upon them and ducking and dodging a Ku Klux Klan that had carte blanche to do whatever they wanted, some of the same people who read my column on Saturday’s may have participated in those actions. Today, those same people shake my hand when they see me and send me e-mails telling me how great of a writer I am. I’m cool with that too. Anybody can change into a better person as they get older, but not everybody does. During the Hurricane Katrina crisis, rapper Kanye West was caught on television saying that George Bush doesn’t like black people. West was attacked by every media outlet on the face of the earth except black media outlets. Why? Because most blacks agree with him, present company included. When we see the three-headed monster that is Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, it takes many blacks back to the days of slavery, when there were always one or two blacks that could serve master in his house, but the majority of slaves had to stay out in the field. I don’t have a problem with Republicans anymore than I do with Democrats, but there is a gene inside of my body that screams to me every day. It says, “Curly, I am your great, great, great, great, grandfather and I don’t want you to ever forget what I had to endure to allow you to be here.” Unless you are black in the United States you will never have any idea what it is like to walk down the street being black, pass by police officers being black, get into elevators with all white people being black or have to work three times as hard to prove that the baseball cap on your head doesn’t mean that you are about to sell crack and start eating watermelon while break dancing. And you will never understand how we see the president that some of you think is a hero. But we already know that, our ancestors embedded it in our hearts and minds hundreds of years ago. Our enemies (who still exist today) have managed to get some of us to buy into the system and either act like buffoons or sign on to help the system grow. But you know what, they didn’t get Curly. And until the good lord decides to take my last bit of air, I will represent my grandfather. Just like President George Bush represents his. (0) Comments

Posted: 1/28/2007 9:55:07 PM

National Politics: Maybe there is still a God...somewhere

The unpatriotic speak loudly “Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.” -Ronald Reagan After Tuesday’s ‘thumpin’ at the polls, I am expecting a slew of books. I fully expected the Democratic Party to regain control of the House of Representatives. I did not expect them to take control of the Senate and gain the lion’s share of governorships. Wow! Surely all those unpatriotic Americans that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld spoke of did not actually do something as patriotic as vote on Tuesday. Forgive me, I meant to say former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Since he is now a private citizen, is it okay to call him Rummy? I think I will. I told everyone within earshot Tuesday night that after it was apparent that the Democrats were going to have a majority vote in the two houses that they would certainly look to hold criminal investigations for several members of the Bush administration. Certainly the President would have to offer someone up as the scapegoat in the coming months. Wrong, it took less than 24 hours to give Rummy the axe. I firmly believe there will be an impeachment attempt, but I think it will fail. Especially since Bush’s Sergeant-at-Arms has been exiled from the big house. How is it that after all the calls for Rummy’s dismissal, and all the steadfast loyalty the president has shown, it took less than one full day after the Democrats seized control of the government for Bush to dump him? Where is the president’s loyalty now? What happened to ‘stay the course’? The Republican Party got what it deserved, but why? I firmly believe that our country should do a better job securing our borders. I also believe that we do not do enough to guarantee our citizens’ safety with the threat of terrorism more prevalent than ever. What I do not believe is that it takes thousands of American lives and zillions of American dollars to accomplish those initiatives. I also do not believe that Americans should have to relinquish the bulk of their civil liberties, nor should they have to resort to methods as despicable as those employed in Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay to retrieve information from suspected terrorists and their allies. Most of all, we never before had cause to live under a cloud of fear, because we as a nation have always represented the concept of democracy at the highest level. This country has traditionally shown that in spite of having an ideologically diverse population base, our republic would always make decisions that were, for the most part, in the best interest of all Americans. The elder Bush had decades of international political experience during his tenure as CIA Director and Vice President and he was savvy in his manner of addressing the American public, even when detractors wanted to take him to task over policy disagreements. The elder Bush was also a war veteran who flew combat missions, was a superb athlete and scholar in college and he had the respect of many Americans, even those who were loyal to other political parties. His son never gained the respect of the American public, only loyal Republicans who were hell bent on winning more than serving the best interests of the country. He campaigned on his name, or rather the name of his father. He was elected because of who his daddy was, because there was absolutely nothing about his political or personal record that suggested he would be competent as President of the United States. Now in his last two years of office, his behind the scenes tactics and deplorable policies will be exposed. The Bush administration ignored the American public and moved forward with their agenda, despite continual erosion in public trust and confidence. Never once did anyone under Bush’s direction extend an olive branch to American citizens in an attempt to regain public support. Bush and his crew have pretty much told the common man to take a long walk off of a short pier. Even worse, members of Bush’s party, so desperate to maintain the illusion of moral superiority, stood steadfastly behind the sinking ship that was the White House, creating a divide among American citizens that far surpassed traditional partitions such as race and class. Remember these numbers: 2,839 – 21,077 – $1 million - $18.5 billion - $380 billion The first number is the number of Americans killed in Iraq. The second number is the number of Americans wounded in Iraq. The third number is the amount of retirement compensation Vice President Dick Cheney receives from defense contractor Halliburton every year. The fourth number is the amount of money that Halliburton has profited from the war in Iraq. The fifth number is the total cost of the American occupation of Iraq to date. You will be seeing those numbers in your sleep once the congressional hearings begin. We were told that we needed to initiate this war to hunt down and kill Osama Bin Laden for his role in 9/11. Five years later, after all of those numbers posted above, Bin Laden is still a free man. The President had brought America to war with Iraq, Al Queida and most of the international community. Even worse he brought Americans to war with each other. Unfortunately for the president, the unpatriotic people who disagreed with his policies were also voting American citizens. Thursday morning, Bush was on television promising to work together with Democrats to do what was in the best interest of the country. Sorry, too little, too late. Now he will face the wrath of the unpatriotic. (0) Comments

Posted: 1/28/2007 9:53:06 PM

Is Elvis Presley God? ha...ha,ha..hahahahahahahahahaha

No column caused more of a stir than when I took time out of my James Brown tribute to crap on Elvis Presley. The cockroaches came running from under every rock they were hiding under for that one let me tell you! I would take some time here to explain further, but I think the columns speak for themselves. Also, who cares what Elvis fans think anyway, I sure don't. Of all the things for people to want to kill me over...lucky for readers I have to show some modicum of restraint...because I could spend a year slamming a host of supposed great American heroes...and trust me, one day I will. (0) Comments

Posted: 1/28/2007 9:50:40 PM