Black is Black

According to Webster’s dictionary a few of the definitions of Black are (1) often capitalized: of or relating to any of various population groups having dark pigmentation of the skin (2): of or relating to the African-American people or their culture (3): typical or representative of the most readily perceived characteristics of black culture. The second and third definitions are the ones I want to address today. A couple of months ago former NBA player and current ESPN analyst Jalen Rose, in his documentary " The Fab Five" , talked about black Duke players being Uncle Toms etc. The program supposedly did not recruit inner city players like Rose. He was speaking from the perspective of a 17 year old kid. He has since reiterated, that he does not feel that way now.He respects the Duke players and organization as a whole. There was a big brouhaha, even a rebuttal in the NY times from Grant Hill, the most disrespected of the Duke Players.

Fast forward two weeks ago, boxer Blowhard, oops I mean Bernard Hopkins, a Philadelphia native and Eagles fan, promoting his title fight with Jean Pascal, slammed former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb . Hopkins described McNabb as not black enough. “Forget this,” Hopkins said, pointing to his skin. “He’s got a suntan. That’s all.” He also made a slavery analogy in discussing McNabb’s relationship with the Eagles. “Why do you think McNabb felt he was betrayed? Because McNabb is the guy in the house, while everybody else is on the field. He’s the one who got the extra coat. The extra servings. ‘You’re our boy,’ ” Hopkins said. “He thought he was one of them.” I wasn't even going to talk about this issue at all, since there is no consensus "black experience". Jalen's teenage perspective is understandable, Hopkins middle aged one is not. When I was a teenager, I felt the same way that Jalen felt. There were people I knew, that had two parents at home, lived in a nice house, did well in school and spoke proper English. In my adolescent mind, they were not black enough or were sell outs. Of course as you get older, mature and learn about life, you know that these are just falsehoods. Bernard knows better, his rant was more about his personal dislike for Donovan, than any perceived blackness issue, he just made it racial.

We have people in our communities, even family members, who feel the same way Bernard "supposedly" does. They feel if you have lived a middle class or privileged upbringing, that makes you less black than those that had too struggle. My question is why? Why do we always have to have a designation on what blackness is or what it's supposed to be? What is a sell out? Am I a sell out because I don't want my kids to live in the hood, or because when I am having a business meeting I don't speak Ebonics? What the hell is Ebonics anyway? Trying to legitimize slang as a real language, for people who are too lazy to learn proper English, is like starting a professional basketball league for white guys, where dunking is outlawed. Sorry to get off subject, that's another blog for another day. The point I am trying to make is there is no one black experience. We are the only people who do this. We have to put everyone in a box; if you don't fit in the box then you are a sellout ,Uncle Tom or disgrace to the race. Every Asian man is not a math genius nor does every Asian woman "wanna love me long time". Every white woman doesn't have a flat ass, nor does every white man walk like he has a stick up his. Those ethnicity's never have this type of discussion .Well the white power contingent does, but you get the point. Nothing is black and white when talking about cultural characteristics ,sometimes Black is just Black.

Blast from the Past!!

Today I am re doing a blog I did two years ago, it was titled "Things done changed". It was about Derrion Albert a 16 year old Chicago honors student, who was brutally beaten and killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time . The wrong place was the street was during a gang fight. The wrong time was after school. The only reason I wanted to re do this blog, is because of the senseless violence in my original hometown of Norwalk CT . Charlotte is where I am trying to put down roots, but Norwalk is the foundation.We would fought amongst each other all the time, but the next week it was all good .Over the years Norwalk has lost so many kids, that if I listed all of them this would be an obituary and not a blog . The point I wanted to make in this blast from the past is that we are all responsible for what goes on in our neighborhood.What are you going to do to make a difference. Remember each one teach one!!

You know today I had a blog all ready to talk about Derrion Albert. The 16 year old honor student, who was brutally beaten last week and died from his injuries, I was ready to talk about the stupidity and lack of guidance in the lives of the young “men” that attacked and killed him. I was going to discuss the cause and affect of this type of ghetto mentality. I was all set to place the blame on everything from BET to Hip Hop music for their portrayal of black men in society. I had to take a long look in the mirror and place the blame where it belongs, squarely on our shoulders. Yes we are to blame for these incidents. As much as I want to disagree with Bill Cosby's comments on the black community, Dr Huxatble is on point.

Had this incident been racial, The NAACP, Al Sharpton and a host of others would be up in arms. Right now everyone is talking about it and saying what a tragedy it is. The problem is, it happens all the time. Nationally, homicide is the leading cause of death for black young men ages 10-24, and the second leading cause of death for black women ages 15-24. While African Americans comprise 13.5% of the U.S. Population, 43% of all murder victims in 2007 were African American. We are killing ourselves; we need to take responsibility for our actions. I want to see all the black organizations and so called black leaders take a stand against that. Right now we are our own worst enemies. When does it stop, when do we begin to take back our neighborhoods? We are going to mourn this young man as we should. What about all the others that have been lost to senseless violence.

The blame should be placed with us; the problem is what we do to correct the situation? I remember when I was young our neighbors could chastise us even spank us if we did wrong. Nowadays you will end up getting into an altercation with someone for trying to correct their child. In the words of The Notorious B.I.G “Things done changed”. I’m not going to blame it only on single parent households, the lack of black role models, Reaganomics or any of the other myriad of excuses we want to use. The problem is us and until we change us and our attitudes as a people, there will always be another Derrion Albert. I do send my condolences to the Albert family and all families that have lost a child to violence, as no parent should have to bury their child. We have to wake up and do something about the destruction of our people, and our communities. No jokes today, peace and love people.

Ring the Alarm!!

Obama killed Osama Bin Laden and he crushed Donald Trump. The President decimated Donald Trump so bad, that he went from first place in GOP opinion polls for the Presidency in 2012, to last place in the span of a week. President Obama's approval rating has hit its highest point in two years, 60 per cent. More than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected, according to an Associated Press poll just taken. Since the President is riding high right now, it would not be normal politics if everything ran smoothly. The Republicans are now trying to say that George W Bush should get the credit for the Osama kill. They state it was "enhanced interrogation techniques’( torture) during the Bush administration that led to the Intel. The old crew was out in full force last week, Cheney, Rice, Rove and Rumsfeld claiming credit for Bush. Saying that George W should be credited along with the President, is like saying Shaq should be credited with helping Kobe win the championship last year.

I told you two weeks ago, politicians will try and use wedge issues to avoid real issues. Since the tactic of trying to diminish the President's accomplishment for killing Osama is not working, they are now trying to make a non issue into an issue. Sarah "I can see Russia from my porch" Palin and Faux News are trying to say that Common is a 'vile' rapper due to "controversial lyrics" from a poem he did. Common was invited to a White House Poetry event by the first lady. What makes this funny, well not even funny but sad, is last year, Fox News had a different take on Common. In an October 2010 report for FoxNews.com, reporter Jason Robinson interviewed Common and told him, "Your music is very positive. And you're known as the conscious rapper. How important is that to you, and how important do you think that is to our kids?" Now how did he go from being a conscious rapper to "vile"? I'll tell you how, the Right has been on a bit of a losing streak lately, from the failed attempt to cut Medicare to Obama's triumphs, They could not find a wedge issue so they created one .What better issue than using a black man who used the word gun in a poem.

Early one mornin' while makin' the rounds, I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down
I went right home and I went to bed I stuck that lovin' 44 beneath my head.

Johnny Cash "Cocaine Blues" Honored at the White House in 2002 by George W Bush.

I am not saying anything against Johnny Cash, but there wasn't a peep about lyrical content by anyone, on The Right or Left. You have to understand what is going on right now, this isn't even about Common or lyrics. Obama is winning right now. The more energy we expend talking about this non controversy, the more time we waste not talking about pertinent issues. The Right doesn't have any new ideas, solutions or clues on what the hell they are going to do in 2012. This is the new talking point, rather the old talking point with a new face on it. Common is now supposed to be Bill Ayers and Rev Wright 2.0. They are using the rallying cry from 2008, "Who does Obama pal around with?" to “Misogynistic rapper Obama pals around with”. It didn't work then, and it shouldn't work now. We can't fall for the Okie doke. Start asking them what their plans are for the economy, the price of gas and unemployment. Instead of focusing on Common, they need to focus on a common solution to fix these problems. In 2012 when you go to vote make sure you know the person's position , their platform and you agree with it. Remember each one teach one

Welcome to the Terrordome !!!

The President had a phenomenal weekend. Saturday at the White House correspondence dinner, the President was in the same room as Donald Trump for the first time since the birther issue.Obama came out slinging one liners like he was Chris Rock.He proceeded to tell The Donald “Now that his birth was no longer an issue, Trump can now move on to more pressing matters like 'Did we fake the moon landing, what happened at Roswell and where are Biggie and Tupac "? The room erupted in laughter, and so did I. After Obama finished skewering Sir Combover, Seth Meyers of SNL took the podium and also poked fun at Trump, MSNBC and the President himself. One telling moment was when Meyers was poking fun at C-Span's viewership or lack thereof and said "Osama Bin Laden hosts a daytime show on the network". Pretty funny stuff to be sure, but unbeknownst to anyone outside the Presidents inner circle, the day before the dinner, President Obama gave the order to Seal Team 6 to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden; Code name Geronimo. Bin Laden had apparently been living in Pakistan for the past 6 years... Yes Pakistan, one of our "allies" in the War on Terror, whom we give billions in aid every year. They have been adamant in recent years that Bin Laden was not hiding out there. They were correct, he was not hiding at all, he was in plain sight, in a million dollar compound. His house was 8 times larger than any other house in the neighborhood, of retired Pakistani military officials. CIA Chief Leon Panetta was quoted saying " either they knew he was there, or they are inept, neither of which is a good place to be"

Sunday night the President announced that Osama Bin Laden was dead. He had been killed in a firefight, in Abbottabad Pakistan . The catalyst for 9/11 was finally dead. I always thought of Bin Laden as the Boogeyman. I remember as a child I was scared of the darkness under my bed. I would turn off my bedroom light ,run and jump in the bed before whatever was under there could grab my leg and pull me under. I got older and realized there was no Boogeyman under the bed; there were far worse Boogeymen in the world. The irrational fear receded in my mind,as I became preoccupied with puberty and girls . Bin Laden was the same, the elusive Boogeyman under all of our beds, who receded from our consciousness as we dealt with other issues. The price of gas, two wars, rising unemployment,home foreclosures and wall street bailouts were on our minds. Bin Laden would emerge in our thoughts sporadically over the years like a whisper. Whenever we took a flight and had to give up that full size shampoo, he was there. Whenever we had to take our shoes off and be groped intimately, by a sweaty guy who didn't buy us dinner before or after the grope, Bin Laden was there. He was like smoke, an irritant until we got to our destination. The President, with a plethora of domestic and foreign issues to deal with, never wavered. He kept the Boogeyman in his crosshairs.

The President kept a promise he made in 2008 in a televised debate with John McCain. He said “If we have Osama Bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to act, we will take him out “. He did just that, with no hesitation. He acted Presidential ,he weighed the options, made his choice and stuck with it. Where do we go from here? People are already clamoring to see the pictures of Osama dead. The White House has said it will not release the photos. I agree wholeheartedly, there is no reason to release them. People who don’t believe Osama is dead will not be swayed by a photograph. ”It’s doctored”, It’s a fake” etc will still be proclaimed, by the conspiracy minded. As I said, where do we go from here? We continue to live our lives. We celebrate this victory and move on. Whether you cheered ,danced in the streets or just did a small fist pump as I did, we savor the moment. We live in an imperfect America, but it's our America! On Sunday night no matter what your race, religion or political affiliation,you were proud of the President. You were proud of what was accomplished. The euphoria is dwindling and party politics are back in play,but for a few days we stood united, and genuinely happy that The Boogeyman was banished under the bed for good. Evil is still out there, and always will be. so remember 1Peter 5:8 "Be sober-minded; be watchful Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." Well Done Mr President.