Moment in time 40 years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - 4.4.2008.1

Today, 40 years after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and 2 days before my birthday I pause to reflect on what has happened and what could have.

I’ve read a lot on Dr. King in the recent days, far more than what was written during this past Black History Month. And I’m reminded of comments made by Jeff Johnson when I saw him at Ithaca College this year. I consider what Dr. King was moving forward to do at the time he was killed, and how he has been frozen in time. I look at the society of America and of African Americans.

I am a child of the Civil Rights era. I have benefited in numerous ways from the struggles and strife made by those before me. And there are numerous things today that have gone backwards in time or have wasted the efforts made. Those children beyond my generation have no idea of what has changed, and seemingly few have an appreciation that they don’t know things have changed only recently.

If Dr. King had not been killed 40 years ago, do you think there would be a BET today? Perhaps there would be, and a TV One as well – but not the only 2 and not in the manner that we see now on Black Entertainment Television I imagine. I doubt that Bob Johnson would have been the first with a national cable channel, and it would not have been built upon the back of scantily clad Black women gyrating to lyrics promoting drugs and violence.

If Dr. King had lived, he honestly would have diminished in some of his stature – as all great leaders do as they age. Yet his voice would hold more power than all the so called Black leaders of today combined and then some. He would long ago have questioned the infusion of drugs into our communities, the ridiculous face value actions of “Just say no”, and the promotion of money over education values that have integrated into our communities via music videos, video games, and other genres.

If Dr. King had lived, there would be a voice to speak with fanatical Muslim extremists. Perhaps there would never have been a 9/11, nor a war in Kuwait, nor a bombing in Lebanon. And even if these events did happen, there might have been a voice to provide an alternative just a step short of war.

If Dr. King had lived unions would be far different than they are now. There would have been a powerful voice questioning America’s involvement in Viet Nam, and questioning how the Government ran the war.

I imagine that television networks and movie studios would have rushed to integrate the big and small screens for fear of boycotts. Today there would not be worlds of imagination segregated to a virtually uniform racial make up of the world. There would not be just 2% of the entertainment industry representing every person of color combined. Spike Lee would not have to be heralded as a unique and groundbreaking director (based on his color), but just a great director among others.

I imagine that the African American middle class would not be a ghost, but a viable and growing community. I imagine that I would not have been able to get through high school with a college preparatory physics class textbook that was 3 years older than me. I imagine that a better alternative to Affirmative Action may have been found.

I would hope that had Dr. King lived, America would have come to terms with the need to apologize for slavery, something that I think still festers in the background causing separation and ill-will. I would hope that America could realize that reparations are part of that contrition and the fact that every American today benefits from the 246 years of work that built the foundations of everything that exists today. I would hope that we all would further realize that another 100+ years of segregation and prejudice were instead built upon the back of slavery with Jim Crow laws and that the cycle of judgment based on skin color needed to be broken.

I believe that as some of these things came to pass the history of the nation, the full history, would be revealed. Men like the Tuskegee Airmen and every other African American that has fought in every war America has ever had would not be new revelations to our children today. That the innovations and inventions that make life modern would be attributed to the Blacks that created them. That no person in America would wish to use a word like the N-word because it had no relevance and its meaning is too vile to repeat.

I believe that there would be no need to be distinguished by skin color when being described as an American. I would not need to be African American or Mexican American and so on. We could simply be Americans, one and all.

I believe that the Tuskegee Experiment would not have lasted until 1972, and that the Government would have been smitten for such actions. That there would not need to be a question of whether the government had made AIDS and brought it into communities of people of color because we could be sure they would never act in such a manner again.

I believe that Dr. King would never have become a politician, but other people of color would have been inspired, supported and welcomed as such. That there would be no place in America that could still herald the fact an African American ran for or was elected to a political office. That the first viable Black Presidential candidate would have ran, and possibly been elected long before the 21st century – 388 years after the first recorded slave was sold, 235 years after creating America, 142 years after abolishing slavery, 85 years after lynchings became a crime, 42 years after Jim Crow and segregation laws were declared illegal, 23 years after the first Black Miss America, 8 years after the first Black Secretary of State, 7 years after the first African American President of an Ivy League College and first Black billionaire, and 1 year after the first Black American (and youngest person) that flew around the world solo [which went virtually unreported].

There are many things I think that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could have done had he lived, and others that he would have influenced that would have benefited America. But I am left with one other thought.

Why haven’t these things happened even without him?

Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman to return to cable television - 2.20.2008.1

Ok, time to re-focus. As is obvious I have been spending a huge amount of time on the Presidential election of late. From my I Love America That’s Why I Vote! campaign to the multiple posts on all the candidates and vote results [all found at VASS] I have expressed by belief that this election will critically impact all Americans. To that end I am promoting voter registration, and following everything about the candidates.

But, I have not forgotten the core purpose of this blog. So let me get back to those basics.

The first thing I want to touch on is Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman. He is getting back on cable television. Roughly 4 months after his tirade of the N-word and his, in my opinion, pathetic ‘save my job’ apology he will be going back to work.

The A&E cable network has stated

"Since the premise of "Dog The Bounty Hunter" is about second chances - we have decided to give him one."

That’s a load of crap. Lest I misunderstand the program, which I admit to having never seen more than 30 seconds of, it is the reality-styled coverage of a bounty hunter capturing fugitives from the law and forcing them to face the legal system. There is no second chance but forced responsibility. A responsibility that I feel ‘Dog’ Chapman has sought to avoid. And A&E is going to reward that evasion.

When the story first broke I stated

“The mindset that allows the use of the N-word and other disparaging terms against people of color is the issue. It’s that mindset that is angering. He isn’t upset with the words he uses, he is angry if others find out he uses these words. He knows he’s wrong, and doesn’t care.

That is racist. To cowardly use terms to disparage and degrade people, but not be willing to let anyone of the race in question to hear it is racist. Add to this that in the presence of his minister of 7 years, who is Black, he would not use this term but has no problem saying other curses in front of him adds to his deception. He is more than just racist; he is the hidden racist that acts in secret, in a way similar to the KKK.”

Obviously I did not accept the apology made to gain public sympathy. I did not accept his faulty reasoning. I did not excuse his actions. I still don’t to this day.

But I also stated that he should not lose his job. My reason for this has nothing to do with Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman and everything to do with the First Amendment and the fact that it was a private conversation that was made public without his knowledge. It is those factors alone that prevent me from decrying the actions of A&E.

But that does not mean I will support his return.

I hope this program fails miserably. In fact I would suggest that if you did watch this program you discontinue to do so. A message needs to be made, and diminutive ratings would be a nice step in that direction.

I will say it again, I think Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman is a racist. He is the sort of racist of the worst type. One that would smile in the face of an African American – like his preacher of 7 years – and them stab them in the back when no one is looking (and Mexicans and women as well). He is a cowardly racist that deserves no sympathy for his actions.

Let him go back to work. He was duped into being recorded without knowledge. That is a low blow. But his own admissions on national television (speaking with Hannity of the Fox News program Hannity & Colmes) were that this word and other defamitory demeaning comments were used by his cast and co-workers regularly. Thus the failure of his program would be apt justice.

The N-word is not a common plesantry. It’s not a term that is positive for any group of people to use. It promotes the perception that far to many in America are ready to support, that African Americans are lazy, ignorant, repugnant less than human creatures. That is the impression that the N-word has meant for centuries, and it has not changed as ‘Dog’ Chapan so clearly proved.

A&E is counting on the fact that Americans, of all colors, have short memeories. ‘Dog’ Chapman is counting on the same thing. This blog, and I, do not forget easily the use of a word that is meant to equate my family, friends and myself as less than feces.

So the question is do you?

Golfweek sought attention on Tiger Woods lynching - 1.19.2008.1

Tiger Woods. It is a name that when uttered brings up images and thoughts of success, achievement, dedication, fame, recognition, respect and wealth. To some. For a few the only image is that of a Black man in a White sport. Like Fuzzy Zoeller who’s only comment about the success of Tiger winning his first green jacket (an honor few professional golfers ever get – and Tiger now has several) was a stereotyped reference to fried chicken. Or Kelly Tilghman who envisioned Tiger Woods hanging from a tree.

Before I go further I want to take a moment to reflect on something. In 2007 there were several events that stood out. A few were highly covered by the major news media; others were followed and discussed in blogs like this one. Those events included Don Imus verbally attacking the Black members of the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team without provocation, Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman hurling the N-word as he rebuked his son for the interracial relationship he was in, the kidnapping torture and sexual abuse of Megan Williams in West Virginia, the reports of roughly 50 nooses throughout the nation, and the Jena 6.

Let’s focus on the Jena 6 and the nooses. It was a noose that caused the inflammation of that event. In fact it caused multiple events, all racially based, across the country. The sight of a noose from a tree, implying the potential lynching of African Americans, evoked violence and highlighted the imbalances that exist in the application of the law in America.

All of these things are facts.

Given these facts, it should be obvious to most that a noose is little different than the swastika or the confederate flag to most African Americans. They are all symbols of hate and violence unleashed for the pleasure of people too absorbed with the skin tone of those around them. These small minds needed big symbols to evoke the fear they felt and they made them huge.

How powerful are these connotations? Considering that the conservative counts of African Americans that were lynched numbers at least 3500 over 93 years (which ends in 1958). That after 7 years of debate and stalling, lynching became illegal in the United States in 1922. That given those numbers and the recent timeline, most African Americans need only look back 2 generations to find members of their family that were affected directly by either lynching or the Jim Crow laws and prejudice that fueled it. That’s 2 generations, even if you are just 20 now.

So yes nooses are not jokes or objects of laughter any more than say Nagasaki, or a concentration camp, or the Japanese internment is. It is a visceral reminder of violence against Blacks merely because we exist. And there is no equivalent that I am aware of that White Americans have ever known.

Perhaps it’s the fact that there is no equivalent that makes it so easy for some White Americans to minimize the impact of a noose, or to call for lynching a person. Perhaps the fact that far fewer White Americans can point to any time in America and their family trees when they were considered, by law, property or less than human or deserving of death because they exist. IF a nuclear bomb had destroyed Kansas City, I’m sure they would understand as I do. IF from say now until 2254 every White American was hit with a whip, 5 times every day for a half-hour each time, I guarantee they would understand.

But the fact is most don’t understand and never will. And that is why Tiger Woods is involved in a news story that deals with golf in the most meaningless way. That is the reason that Ms. Tilghman said the remarks she made (which I discussed previously – Tiger Woods comment impacts Dr. Martin Luther King birthday), why she only received a 2 week suspension, and Golfweek thought a noose on the cover of their magazine was appropriate.

Because if anyone stopped to think about it, or the events that filled the hours between intense discussion about Sanjiah still being on American Idol, how Anna Nicole Smith died and why (it was a drug overdose and she was an addict – seemed simple to me), and Ellen DeGeneres crying on television about breaking a contract and losing a puppy she had no right to give away, then you might have noticed that the prominent display of a noose pisses off most African Americans.

Obviously the editor at Golfweek missed all the abovementioned events, though I would bet that they know about American Idol. I would have thought the comments by the Golf Channel and the reaction of most (not Tiger Woods sadly – he missed a huge opportunity to make a valid and needed point) Blacks would have been a clue. Obviously they took that, and the entire Jena 6 situation among others, as the elephant in the room.

"...we consider Golfweek's imagery of a swinging noose on its cover to be outrageous and irresponsible. It smacks of tabloid journalism. It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident..." - PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem

There is no justification for the noose on the cover. It was a blatant attempt to profit off of a serious and offensive event. It seems apparent that they must have felt that since golf in America is so predominantly White their actions would slip through the cracks and the major news media would ignore it. Mostly they are correct, but not enough thankfully.

Let me say this clearly, I hope many in the major news media hear this and remember it. A noose is required for lynching. Neither is a positive nor funny (as many in Americas past felt they were). Both evoke memories of a time in America when we were not the land of the free, not for all not for a long time. Both evoke thoughts of words whose only use is the degradation and minimalization of an entire race of people for no reason other than their genetic birthright. The use of either of these things is no more worthy of profiteering than using videotape of 9/11 to promote political gain or an air ionizer.

There is a manner and way of using both the term lynching and a noose such that a positive is reached. That would be education and sensitivity on what those things mean and what they involved. That would help fill in some of the missing parts in American history, where African Americans are concerned.

But that would involve an understanding that I mentioned previously is missing, and that Golfweek seems far too obtuse to understand.

Dog Chapman apologies on Hannity and Colmes Part 3 - 11.7.2007.2

Concluded from Dog Chapman apologies on Hannity and Colmes Part 2...

And lastly the interview ends with his written public apology, and his claim he would rather die than inflict pain on the Black community. Some how I doubt that. Had that been true he would not use, nor allow use around him, of the n-word. He would not have spit out the bile and malicious wording that is now the testament of his thoughts. Again I say his apology sounds hollow and as false as a poorly tuned piano.

But that is not the end of his annoying attempt to get back his lucrative television show and audience. The last thing he mentions is his efforts to get in touch with God and to go to a gravesite of African Slaves and to place a gravestone for each of them buried there.

I’m sorry but my anger cannot be bought so cheaply. My anger that has grown immensely as I hear him continue to speak. Now he thinks that telling me he is going to get in touch with God, and that this should excuses his intent and actions? That his taking the out that all entertainers and celebrities are using now, treatment for deplorable actions, is going to gain sympathy? Not with me.

And to even mention the graves of those Africans that were taken from their homes to become less than furniture enrages me. How dare him. Placing grave markers will not buy my anger off. Providing due respect for the lives of human beings is something everyone should do. America didn’t for over a century, and the paltry hollow actions of one White man who has compounded that insensitivity will not make up for it.

I mentioned that I expected Dog to seek some kind of ‘aid’ for his words. He has done so. I expected that he would apologize in public. And now he has. I did not expect him to lose his cable television show for the private phone call, but having heard his apology I am glad at A&E’s decision.

As I said to a friend about this whole incident,

“He may not be a racist, but he does a damn good job of acting like one.”

Dog Chapman apologies on Hannity and Colmes Part 2 - 11.7.2007.1

Continued from Dog Chapman apologies on Hannity and Colmes Part 1...

Has this guy grown up in America?! Has he not lived enough years to recall the 70’s and know of the 60’s? Has he been in a coma? Of course he knew it caused pain. I have no doubt that while he was in prison on his murder conviction he heard someone use the word, and knew it was used to create pain. I’m sure he was aware enough of the vile nature of the n-word that he never used it in front of his Black reverend, Rev. Storey. Had he a real separate meaning, or thought it had no effect I’m sure he would have had no problem using it in front of the reverend. But he hid that aspect of himself, meaning he knew.

The interview then jumps away from his words, and his hollow apology (I felt), to discuss his son’s birth. What the Hell did that have to do with anything? It was an attempt to gain sympathy. It was an attempt to show his humanity. Nice try, to bad that humanity seems reserved to people of his own color.

But that was not enough for Dog Chapman. He goes on to blame the Enquirer for offering money for recordings or video of his actions. It was their fault for enticing his son to get this recording. And it was the fault of the girlfriend for being around his son and possibly being a bad influence on him. That is he thought she was encouraging his son to behave badly, according to rumors he heard of his son acting badly. Notice that the rumors did not say she did that, but he assumed it. Again this is distraction and an attempt to gain sympathy.

Something that is important to note. If Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman was so sorry, why did he wait to apologize? The conversation was from March of this year. I realize this was a private conversation, so I can understand the lack of public apology. But why not apologize to Rev. Storey? Why not seek atonement for God, or within his religion? Because if he had, Rev. Storey would never have had to say “I’ve never heard him use that word.”

Perhaps the most insulting part of the interview is when Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman announces that he ‘now knows that he is not Black.’ That he had thought he was Black, and accepted by African Americans as one of our own. That bull is the worst attempt at sympathy I have heard in maybe decades. “Now I know I’m not Black”, like looking in a mirror for his entire life never gave him a clue. Like being Black is something you can purchase in the store and wear like a pair of jeans. Like the daily strife, injustice and inequality I and others have lived is a commodity that he can pick up and gain sympathy for when he acts badly.

‘Hey I’m sorry for shooting that guy, but I had my ‘African American’ jeans on. My Bad.’

Concluded in part 3...

Dog Chapman apologies on Hannity and Colmes - 11.6.2007.2

So I was watching Hannity & Colmes tonight and listened as Duane ‘Dog' Chapman tried to apologize and explain his phone conversation with his son. I can sum up my thoughts of his interview in a few words. Dodging blame, lame, and insufficient.

To start with, Dog starts the conversation with the comments that he was sorry for using the N-word and that he knew it was wrong. But nearly in the same breath he admits that he uses the word. This at least is consistent with his phone comment. But he tries to excuse this use of the n-word by stating 5 times in the first segment that he has a different definition of the word than the general public.

Now take that in for a moment. He tries to lessen what he said by using an excuse that the n-word has a separate meaning than the one that is acknowledged as the potentially most insulting word in the English language. He emphasizes this 5 times in 10 minutes. But not once does he offer what his meaning might be. Not once does he attempt to explain that he has ever used the word in any way other than to degrade, belittle and insult African Americans.

Towards the end of the show he does mention that he has used it as a form of common greeting. Yet that does not mean, nor does it seem to be implied, that this is how he uses the term all the time. It does not seem to be the way that he feared being taped using the word. That does not seem to imply the way that the others working with him use the word. And it still does not give the type of definition he wants to claim his use of this word conveys.

Plus there is the admission that when he did use the word as a greeting, or at other time, he would not say it out loud. He would not do this because

“I’d get beat up for it.”

Again he confirms that his meaning is the meaning we think it to be. That he knew exactly how his words would be understood and that he wanted that.

To the detriment of Sean Hannity’s interview, he was never asked to explain that meaning he supposedly had. In fact it was accepted that he could have a meaning separate of the historical, or the one used by youth today. But I interject that his use of the term in that phone conversation held a single meaning, and it was the historical and only meaning that the n-word has. And it was that meaning that he admittedly knew he was using both in the phone conversation and with his colleagues, in my opinion.

But the next thing Dog Chapman says in the interview really ticked me off. He says that he thought he could use the n-word. That he could say it as some African Americans do. That he had no idea that using the word, as he did in the phone call, could inflict pain to Blacks.

Continued in part 2...

Duane 'Dog' Chapman - 11.1.2007.1

Here it comes. Now that Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman has been shown for what many call a racist, the question comes out what he means and how offensive the N-word is. I will state what I think in one second. But there is a statement of apology out today as well.

The first thing I want you to be able to hear is the actual comments he made. This conversation comes from the Enquirer and can be heard in full at http://www.nationalenquirer.com/2007/popup/full-wmv.html. I warn you that it is filled with offensive language.

I think it’s clear that, by his own words, Dog uses the N-word often, as do those he works with. It’s used to describe African Americans in the meaning that is the historical vile meaning, and in no way the “new” meaning that kids today wish it to be. Not to mention his demeaning inference to Mexicans and women.

Now I realize that this conversation was intended to be a private one. I realize that this is between Dog and his son. Perhaps he spoke in anger, perhaps he has reasons to dislike and/or distrust this woman. But that is not the issue I want to address.

The mindset that allows the use of the N-word and other disparaging terms against people of color is the issue. It’s that mindset that is angering. He isn’t upset with the words he uses, he is angry if others find out he uses these words. He knows he’s wrong, and doesn’t care.

That is racist. To cowardly use terms to disparage and degrade people, but not be willing to let anyone of the race in question to hear it is racist. Add to this that in the presence of his minister of 7 years, who is Black, he would not use this term but has no problem saying other curses in front of him adds to his deception. He is more than just racist; he is the hidden racist that acts in secret, in a way similar to the KKK.

I don’t accept the apology of ‘Dog’ Chapman (an ex-convict convicted of murder). It’s insincere. He knew the words he chose. He knows them in this conversation and with those on his show. His often use of the word, and more importantly non-use in front of some people shows his fear and true feelings. I don’t know the man, but I am lead to these conclusions by his actions.

Now A&E has suspended his program. There has been constant conversation all day on this controversy. His minister, Rev. Tim Storey, has been on Hannity & Colmes has come to his defense. And the arguments are being spun to rap and hip hop.

Does he deserve to lose his show? No. I have to say that. Why? Because this was a private conversation, and not place on the airwaves. If he said it in his television show, I’d say pull him off the air just like Don Imus. [Though I think Imus deserved to stay off the air just a bit longer] Had he said it in public, like Michael Richards, I’d be happy to lead the charge to see him unemployed. But he did not, and private conversations, no matter how objectionable cannot be punished. If we do we violate the First Amendment and invite policing of our words everywhere.

Continued in part 2...

Taking a look at the past and present race relations - 10.31.2007.1

** This can also be seen at Black & White Blog, where I am a co-author. You can comment either here or at that site, which is a forum for views on race issues from many sides. **

I was going through some of my favorites at YouTube yesterday and I ran across an old Saturday Night Live skit that is classic and funny on so many levels. But it’s more than that as well. It features Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor, from the 70’s when SNL was at its best and most biting social commentary.

I’m sure everyone my age and older have had the joy of seeing this long ago. For those who are younger, check out the clip.



Now the point is this. What really has changed since then? While there is PC this and that, and Blacks have gone from being “Black and Proud” to ‘Forshizille my nizzelle’, has anything become better?

Yes there is more interracial dating, yet it is still shunned as the recent death threat against the Boise State player that asked his girlfriend to marry him on national television proved. Yes there are Black doctors, lawyers, and even Secretaries of State yet Blacks still have disproportionate poverty and unemployment levels. While Senator Obama is running for President of the United States, the number of CEO’s of major corporations (on the stock market) can be counted on 1 hand.

In the 70’s the N-word was understood to be a negative term, and even this video showing its use to evoke humor recognizes the absolute anger attached to the word. Today kids, of all races, routinely play on pronunciation and use the term daily as a greeting. Yet its use has not changed its meaning as we have seen in the Jena, West Virginia and Lititz cases.

The KKK, and neo-nazi groups still exist. Cops still beat and kill Blacks (name one year where there have not been several unjustified explosions of police abuse since 1980, whether or not it got national media attention). The legal system (the word Justice is unwarranted in describing the system we have) routinely continues to convict innocent Blacks, and invoke penalties so harsh as to be ludicrous to compare on those Blacks convicted of crimes, as with the Jena 6 and Genarlow Wilson.

While the surface of the nation may seem like calm waters, it’s not. There is as much or more racial tension in this nation than ever before. Political Correctness may prevent hearing all the tension, but it’s doing little to nothing to prevent the action itself. The media, without uttering a single slur, has never stopped presenting slurs or negatively portraying African Americans.

In 1977, the year Roots was on television (I haven’t seen it on ever since), there were 24 Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian characters on all of television (not less than 69 shows). That number includes 5 shows where the characters had starring roles, but does not include a cartoon (Fat Albert) or a dance show (Soul Train) which was only on Saturdays. It also includes 2 programs that ended that year, Sanford & Son and Electric Company, and one star (Freddie Prinze) that died.

While it’s harder to define all the shows on television today, including cable and reruns, looking at the top 100 first-run programs I get an estimate of 18 African Americans. I’m sure I’m missing a few characters (only counting leading and featured support characters) and television shows. My previous efforts, including reruns, came to less than 2% of all characters are African Americans and less for other minorities. That’s sad when there has been an increase of 1000% in television channels since 1977.

So what has really gotten better? Yes some individuals are doing better, but not society. The realization is pitiful. At least in 1977 we were honest, but the main thing I see that improved the most is our ability to hide the anger that exists.

Do you agree?

Nas insults every Black American with one word Part 2 - 10.16.2007.3

Continued from Nas insults every Black American with one word Part 1...

Recent Congressional hearings have gone virtually unreported, with entertainers, media corporations, and radio stations all denying any culpability for the content that is made or any negative effects it my encourage/create. With no one to blame, and pressure from the media seeking to blame someone, individuals like Nas are perfect targets. I can’t say I’m sorry when he chooses to adorn album covers with language depicting the worst insult known in the English language.

Nor can I feel pity for a genre of individuals that appear virtually incapable of avoiding legal difficulties. Take the most recent act of idiocy, the arrest of TI (Clifford Harris Jr) for illegal gun possession. Now that may not be a big deal, virtually every rapper has been arrested on a similar charge, Mr. Harris took it to the next level with an attempt to buy machine guns and ownership of multiple assault rifles and handguns. Can anyone explain why he would need this? And how many other rappers have been arrested this year alone? 2 dozen or so? And how many repeatedly, perhaps a dozen? Or am I low-balling the numbers?

The lack of discipline and personal responsibility displayed by the gangsta rap genre is bewildering. The use of the N-word, multiple arrests for crimes ranging from assault to drugs and more are just too much. Some may disagree on whether my argument of their being sell-outs is accurate, but I cannot see how any might dispute that in the current form and the exclusion of any other format, rap is hurting the Black community.

Mr. Creekmur is correct that 1 bad act does not invalidate 1 or 2 good acts. But when we look at the balance, I see dozens of bad acts and barely a handful of good.

We need change. Not by Congress, or from some corporation. We need to take action ourselves; because that is the only way we will see things improve in a meaningful way. If not, I fear that in 15 or 20 years we will wish for the respective charm of what we have today.

So when Nas releases his new album with a title that blatantly insults every living and dead African American, I would suggest not buying it or getting the bootleg or download. Or is that too much to ask?

Nas insults every Black American with one word - 10.16.2007.2

Oh the joy I feel in knowing that Nas will be shortly debuting a new album. I have no idea what his album will contain, but if the title is any indication of the content I have no doubt that this will be an insult to every African American. How can I say that unheard? Because the title is reported to be the N-word.

[If you play the following video, be aware it states the N-word multiple times, but I feel it makes my point.]



But going beyond this. I felt bad when Mr. Chuck Creekmur, was brought onto Fox News for the Big Story and was asked to defend Nas and this blatant use of the N-word. One point that I think needs to be paraphrased

“Many of our elected officials have done bad things, that does not invalidate the good that they have done.” – in reference to the positive songs by Nas as opposed to the more media targeted negative songs

[When you read this Mr. Creekmur, you can contact me for any correction if needed.]

But the problem I see is not just Nas and the low quality songs that he performs. As I’ve noted before

“I’ve long said that executives are laughing as they go to the bank to deposit the money accumulated from the work of Ja Rule and other rappers. They are making boatloads of money (literally) for words they would never use in public (as Don Imus learned) by having rappers say it for them. And all it costs them are pennies paid out to the performers. That by definition sounds like a sell-out to me.”

I understand and respect the fact that the First Amendment allows the artists to say words like this. At the same time I realize that the courts noted that certain words are inciteful and incendiary. I realize that there are consequences of words and they are not always what one might expect.

Gangsta rap and rappers are not the cause of all the ills of the Black community. But they are part of those ills. They condone and actually promote the worst problems our children face everyday. Unprotected sex, drug use, illegal activities, and a general aversion to education. Not one of these things is good for the Black community, yet they continue.

Continued in part 2...

Response to 'Average American' comment on comparing news coverage - 9.28.2007.1

This is in response to a comment from Average American on my post Compare White and Black news coverage Part 2 - 9.25.2007.2. My response was so long I felt it was better as a post of it's own. Please refer to the link to see the comment that lead to this post.


Thank you for responding Average American.

I too feel I am an Average American. I’m 39, of Black Puerto Rican decent and grew up in the Bronx going to public schools. As I state in my bio, I did not grow up in any special way and wealth was never a factor in my young life.

Given that, I do recall how the N-word was used back in the 70’s and throughout my life, including recently. I can recite multiple events, in New York City and the Northeast, where race and law enforcement directly collided against me. Oh, let me add another fact of my life. I’ve never been arrested nor involved in any crime. Yet off the top of my head I can recall several incidents where I have had police draw guns on me, while at college or driving on the parkway, or driving down Hollywood Blvd with friends (White and Asian). I have lived with the knowledge first-hand and through observation that race is a MAJOR factor in how the law and justice are applied in America.

I also have spoken with friends of mine of other races and found that consistently White Americans are not faced with these same events and outcomes. To deny the fact of how race affects issues in my decades of life is to ignore facts that exist. You may not have experienced them, or not recognized when they happened, but that does not change that they happen.

While I agree that if, in the Jena 6 case, race is not considered there is no question that there was an attack made. There is no question that there were 6 against 1. There is some dispute, as stated by Rev. Jesse Jackson and others, whether or not the victim was kicked and/or when he became unconscious. That makes this a crime and prosecution is justified. No one has questioned that.

The question is the application of the law. The victim was not seriously injured. He attended a dance, or some other social event, later that same day. If murder was the intent, 6 people are more than enough to accomplish this, especially if he were unconscious. This was a fight, lopsided but a fight all the same. To charge attempted murder is over the top.

In comparison, days earlier a White student brought a shotgun to school to intimidate one or several Black students. That student, in a nation that has endured Columbine and college shootings, was not charged or reprimanded. Is not a firearm attempted murder when used in this manner? Where is the justice and equal treatment under the law?

While you might say this is a hate crime, I disagree. Were this a random White male selected you might be right. But this student was part of a group of White males that attacked one of the Jena 6; I believe it was Mr. Bell, the day prior striking him allegedly with a bottle. The attack by the 6 Black males was an opportunistic attack in retribution. If the first attack the day earlier, and the shotgun being brought to school, are not hate crimes, then neither is the Black males fight. In fact because this was retaliation on other violence it can be easily argued that race was never a factor.

Continued in part 2...

Black Enterprise vs Eddie Griffin - 9.6.2007.2

Some just can't see the forest for all the trees.

Many pundits and the major news media often like to comment that the black community does little to curb the use of some derogatory terms such as the N-word. If you were to only gather your knowledge from these sources then you would probably believe they are correct. Of course, this is as far from the truth as Pluto is near the sun.

For almost 2 decades there has been a steady and committed voice presented in the black community against the use of the N-word and other terms or forms of entertainment that diminish black culture. Miss C. Dolores Tucker was one of the first to take charge in this matter.

“Ms. C. Dolores Tucker started a movement that rings as true today as when she started it in the 1990’s. Gansta rap “is a crime that we are promoting these kind of messages. The whole gangster rap industry is drug-driven, race-driven, and greed-driven.”

She was hardly the only person making commentary. Others such as Mr. Chuck Creekmur have discussed this often on his website long before the events of Mr. Michael Richards and Don Imus. The major news media just didn't pay attention.

In another example of the willful i