The Top 20 C👀NS of 2020

Let me let you all in on a little secret. I’m talking about one of those Love Craft cosmic intergalactic travel type secrets. One of the reasons why 2020 seemed like the longest and most unbearable years since Jesus was merked and the dawn of the AD era began is because 2020 started five years ago in 2016. Real talk– we been on some real live Ground Hog’s Day type shit for four whole years. That’s why 2020 was such a never ending saga. No bullshit, it’s in the good book. Not the Bible, but the one that Atticus and nem was beefing over with that white lady/man.

The only thing that has been more consistent, persistent and perpetually disappointing to the culture than 2016-20 are those pesky mammals from the procyonid family (🦝). You see there are two pandemics wreaking havoc on and within the Black community. The COVID-19 outbreak which of course incubated in 2019 and gave us the Corona Virus and the lesser talked about COONVID-16 outbreak that took form in 2016 and ended up saddling us with the Coonrona Virus. Both have combined to raise the misery index of the Black community to epic levels. And while heard immunity, a vaccine and time will do away with one of these major maladies adversely affecting the culture, the other one shows no sign of going away. After all, their archetype has been around literally since the slave ships. I say all of this to say that being ever more vigilant about the ethos and intentions of our “cousins” in politics, media, arts & entertainment and anyone else with a modicum of influence is germane to our survival as a culture as well as our collective peace of mind. It is for this reason that we highlight annually the top purveyors of coonery for the year. It’s normally a top 10 list, but 2020 has been so coontastic that we have no choice but to expand it to 20. Even with 20 there will invariably be many coons that deserve to be on this list that will not make it. And for that I apologize. With out further ado I present the top 20 coons of 2020.

NUMBER 20. VANN JONES

I struggled with whether or not Vann should make this list. Not because he ain’t been coon tripping–clearly he’s had some major moments of coonery. But because the year 2016-20 has been so Coonified, by adding Jones there will invariably be coons out there well more deserving of the spot that will be either left off the list or relegated to mere honorable mention. He was added First and foremost to dispel the myth that black conservatives have a monopoly on coonery. They don’t. There are indeed liberal leaning black folks with coon like proclivities. In other words Cooning is a bi-partisan sport.

Maybe it’s the coffee at CNN maybe it’s the water in the water cooler. Whatever the cae may be Vann seems to be going through the same intermittent episodic bouts with coonery that Don Lemon struggled with years back before he grew his hair out, switched to a black barber and uncooned himself. The good news is Vann at worst is what we call a redeemable coon (as Don Lemon proved to be). He has not done or said anything that would warrant a permanent ban from the cookout or block party but he did book end his coon spree in a way that would make us remiss not to acknowledge and chide him for. The first was giving a teary eyed co-sign of Fuck Boy 45 after he managed to make it through his first State of the Union Speech by reading verbatim from the teleprompter with minable ad libs (never mind the speech was riddled with falsehoods and shameless campaigning) and the second being the more recent balling tears when the news media finally called the 2020 race in favor of Joe Biden. Again, not the worst coon act in the world, but this nigga needs to get it together.

Another reason why Vann Makes this list this year is the fact that he don’t know what IDFWPWFWPWIDFW means…

…So while even though he’s a redeemable coon, he gotta stay in the coon corner until he learns what the fuck IDFWPWFWPWIDFW means and adheres to the standard.

Number 19. President Obama

I know I know. How dare you call the first Black president a coon. Just so you know, it hurts me to have to add him to this list almost as much as it hurts some of you to read it. I never thought that we would have to add him to a list of such dubious distinction, but here we are. Now two things can be true. Barack Obama could be both the best president in modern history as well as a rather mediocre one–especially given who his predecessor and successor was. It was not exactly a high bar that he had to hurdle. But this is much less about Obama the president and much more about Obama the former president.

After Dumbo the 45th took his oath of office, aside from the occasional where’s Waldo type photos from vacay island on our social media timelines, or public appearances where Michelle would gross us out by eating candy from George Bush’s dirty ass sweaty palms, we did not see or hear much from our beloved first Black Family. It was not until Bernie Sanders looked as though he was headed towards the Democratic nomination did we begin hearing from this guy again. And I’m not necessarily mad at him for that– I get it. Joe is his boy who was his wing man of 8 years. And while it’s clear as day the former “community organizer” chose collegiality over community, if his meddling in the affairs of the people would have stopped there he does not make this list. Even with both he and Michelle Obama authoring books replete with residual smoke for Reverend Wright while all but erasing the disdain that they collectively shared with the people for the Bush crime family and other odious white supremacist elements in American politics that propelled him to the legacy he has today, he would not have made this list. The 19th addition to this years top 20 Coons list was actually an 11th hour addition. So as off putting as it may come across to call the first president a coon, he kind of earned it.

The movement to defund the police seems rather nascent but it’s actually part and parcel to the larger prison abolitionist movement that goes back at least 20 years. The idea gained rapid traction after George Floyd was lynched on camera for all the world to see. That moment along with the state sanctioned and state approved murders of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor the movement to defund the police picked up major steam. So much so that the Minneapolis city council voted to defund and disband the Minneapolis Police department– the very same department responsible for choking the life out of Floyd. It was eventually vetoed by the mayor but it forced the mayor to re-allocate 8 million dollars from the police departments 179 million budget while they negotiate further re-appropriations. The funds are to be steered towards programs that tackle mental illness and violence prevention. Now 8 million dollars may not seem like much and it really isn’t. But it’s 8 million more towards programs that enrich the community and 8 million less for one of the forces of destruction in the community. Moreover its 8 million dollars that they would not have had were it not for their threat to defund and disband. Who is President Obama or anyone else to tell that city council or that mayor that their decision was wrong? An even better example is the Camden model. In 2013 while Obama was still in office the Camden New Jersey Police department was disbanded over systemic abuse. They ended up rehiring most of the officers but they had to go through an extensive interview process that included a psychological evaluation–things that their union would have blocked had not the community voted to disband. And while the end results were not perfect, homicides have gone from 67 in 2012 to 25 in 2019. Excessive force complaints went from 65 in 2012 to 3 in 2019. Camden is a very poor city so overall crime rates are still high. Defunding and/or disbanding a police force in a given community will never equal perfection but what I does perfect is a strategy of removing police union bosses from the bargaining table when it comes to negotiating the health, safety and welfare of black and brown communities that they neither live in nor have love or empathy for. Make no mistake about it, the police unions are the immovable objects in the room as it pertains to police reform. On each and every policy prescription that anyone with a semblance of concern comes up with they block it.

Which brings us back to President Obama. For 8 years President Obama tried nicely to get the cops to stop killing black people. It did not work. They kept on killing us. For 8 years Obama tried to make it possible to enact more punitive measures for officers that murdered innocent unarmed Black people. That also did not work–they kept escaping justice and in many instances got their jobs back. That’s what makes Obama’s most recent comments regarding the call to defund the police so curious and frankly coonish. Here’s Obama on the question of defunding the police:

If you believe, as I do, that we should be able to reform the criminal justice system so that it’s not biased and treats everybody fairly, I guess you can use a snappy slogan, like ‘defund the police.’ But, you know, you lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done..The key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with? And if you want to get something done in a democracy, in a country as big and diverse as ours, then you’ve got to be able to meet people where they are. And play a game of addition and not subtraction.

President Barack Obama

There’s so much wrong with what he said here. First and foremost it’s not about us being treated unfairly. It goes without saying that police treat many of the Black people that they encounter unfairly. But that’s not what’s driving the movement. It’s the fact that they continue to kill us with impunity. With all due respect to the former president there’s a sense of urgency that his flippant response is lacking. And that’s understandable because he will never have to worry about a 3 AM call from authorities letting him know that Sasha or Malia had to be killed because some white boy with a badge mistook their cell phone, purse or Subway sandwich for a gun, feared for his life and shot them down. But for us regular people the situation is much more dire. Another curious thing about his quixotic quip is he juxtaposed defunding the police with his moderate stance of getting things done. Here he’s comparing the growing movement to defund the police (something that is actually working where applied)to what he accomplished vis-Ă -vis police reform– ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING. And to be clear I don’t condemn Obama for getting next to nothing done in the area of abating police violence against Black people. For the most part I take him at his word when he said that his hands were tied and that’s why the killers of Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, Freddie Gray walked with not even a slap on the wrist. What I will not accept from Obama is him trying to tie the hands of others that refuse to have their hands tied or their power to effect change in the area of ending police brutality thwarted. His wayward words did just that. And don’t just take it from us at the Rant–Our favorite president ruffled quite a few feathers with his nonsense:

Now I’m not going to go as far as to say that Obama has been elevated for the express purpose of silencing black dissent but I will say that he was dispatched to do exactly what he did in that interview and that was to muddy a message that was gaining more and more traction around the country. The man that was dubbed the explainer in chief due to his uncanny ability to break down the complex but critically necessary in the most laymen terms could not find the time, words or energy to explain the myriad ways that a defunding of police departments and reinvesting in the communities could take form. The man that expertly explained why undocumented citizens should be allowed to get drivers licenses, why transgender students deserved to use the bathroom of their choice and why every able body in America needed to sign up for Obamacare or face a fine, found it too hard to break down what the term defund the police means. I’m sorry he has to do better than that. we deserve better than that. I take no pleasure in adding a man of Obama’s ilk to this list. If there were an African-American royal family it would be the Obamas. I want to love the Obamas as much as most people love them, but in all honesty I struggle sometimes to simply like them based on the auspicious start to their post presidency. If I could be a bug in the ear of the Obamas I would urge them to be much more like James and Rosalind and a lot less like William and Hillary. Their legacies would be much better off and so would the Black community.

NUMBER 18. JAMES CLYBURN

Representative James Clyburn is the quintessential Black gate keeper. That is the role that he plays for the democratic party. He’s the house majority whip whose main job is to whip black and brown voters into alignment with the corporate democratic establishment. He’s the wool over the eyes of the poor and middle class Black people in his district. His record of misrepresenting the interests of his most loyal constituents rivals only Mitch McConnell. The highly gerrymandered majority Black district that he represents misrepresents has a median income of $35,000 per year. Pretty much the same median income that existed when he first walked into congress almost 30 years ago. Now of course that’s not all his fault but for whatever reason he does not think that Medicare for all, higher wages, and free tuition was something that they deserve because in 2016 and 2020 he opted to be the pillar behind the firewall that secured the nomination for both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, two candidates who stood staunchly against those measures because like Clyburn those industries funded their campaigns. But we have come to expect and frankly accept this sort of non-representation from some of the CBC members who claim to serve in the best interest of Black America. So that’s not what landed him on this list.

After the Democrat’s dismal performance in the 2020 house races where they lost upwards to 10 seats the party needed a scapegoat. Instead of being introspective and looking at their lack of messaging they trotted out their kingmaker butler to serve up their lame excuse for futility on a platter and that’s just what Clyburn did. “Sloganeering” is the term that he used to ascribe the problem that beset their party. He said slogans were the reason why democrats running in red gerrymandered districts lost their re-election bids. In other words it’s because of chants like Black Lives Matter, Medicare for all, the Green New Deal and defund the police that white republicans voted for white republicans.

With American law enforcing from around the country recently storming the capitol to “take their country back” this interview sure did age badly. Unless of course you actually think that all of those yahoos that stormed the Capitol in defense of their republican president would have voted for the middle of the road democrat that lost their seat in congress to a congressional representative with Trumpian proclivities if only they would have never uttered the phrase “defund the police”. Except none of the Democrats that lost their races supported defund the police. They did not support the Green New Deal, Medicare for all and were pretty damn silent on the Black Lives Matter movement all together. Perhaps that’s why they lost. I digress…

Clyburn followed up this Angry Uncle Ruckus interview with an open letter entitled The Fake Fight Between Me and Cori Bush. Cori Bush is the only congressional candidate that ran on defunding the police and being as though she represents a district that includes Ferguson it’s an issue that obviously had resonance with the people of that community. In the short and brief open letter he says:

Like Ms. Bush, I began my political career as a protester. I met my late wife of 58 years during an incarceration that resulted from one of those protests. Although Emily and I almost always agreed on the purposes of our protests and political activism, we didn’t always agree on what approaches were best. We did agree that the slogan “burn, baby, burn” undermined our efforts and eviscerated political support we needed to succeed.  That is my fear of the slogan â€œdefund the police.” I get that it is a rallying cry and shouldn’t be taken literally. But it is being weaponized by sinister forces and is undermining the political efforts of some reliable political allies.  

I prefer â€œreimagine policing” as a rallying slogan, but I am doing all I can to help Ms. Bush succeed. We are united in the goal of making desperately needed systemic changes to community policing. 

Real cool story old man but that’s a lie. In essence he’s saying that the Black Power movement of the 1960’s was to the civil rights movement what defund the police is to the movements of today which for the most part is the movement to save Black lives and ensure that our lives have value. There’s so much overlap in that movement that it defies logic to erect such a false dichotomy. Defund the police is the next iteration of Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter was as toxic a term 6-8 years ago. Today it’s as ubiquitous as a Nike symbol.

The truth is there’s not a nice enough way to word police reform to get a man like James Clyburn on board because he is as beholden to the police unions as any blue blooded Irishman in congress. I know this for a fact. In 2014 then congressman Alan Grayson proffered an amendment (1033). The amendment had nothing to do with defunding the police. It was simply to halt shipments of military equipment and hardware to local police departments. Only 7 CBC members voted in favor of the amendment. James Clyburn was among The Treasonous 32 CBC members that voted against demilitarizing the police. I’m not here to convince you of the efficacy of the term defund the police I’m simply here to let you know that James “the Butler” Clyburn is lying to you about it playing a role in the Democrats dismal election day performance and more importantly he’s lying about why he is so vehemently against the term. He’s against the term because its the single biggest threat to the strangle hold that police unions have at the head of the table when negotiating the health and safety of his constituents. I’m sure he would rather these union bosses be more humane but he loves his leadership position too much to risk it for us. And for that he’s a coon.

Number 18. O’Shea Jackson

The former childhood actor (ya’ll know this dude never sold crack or gang banged) turned movie director, turned Big 3 creator, turned purveyor of viral bullshit, better known as Ice Cube was another 11th hour add. He leap frogged a lot of lames to make this list in 2020. Aside for his 2017 hit dud Arrest The President, Dede’s cousin has been radio silent about national politics and the whole presidential race that had been in full effect at least since 2018. So it came as a great October surprise when two months before the election he unearthed some contract with Black America that no black person that you or I know previously signed or approved of. So with the obviously forged contract in hand Dough Boy secretly met with Jarad Kushner to remix his father in-laws Platinum Plan for the Blacks–because everyone knows the blacks be liking platinum 🙄 . As one would expect, many of the Black people that Calvin was purporting to speak for had some questions. He did Roland Martin and other programs hosted by Black moderators where it became painstakingly obvious that his Contract with Black America was signed with the same pen used to sell the barbershop to Lester Wallace. In the face of being shown not only how fool hearted it would be to trust any promises made by Trump he was shown how much of the policy prescriptions in his “contract with Black America” was present not only in the policy pushes from Black Lives Matter and other activists that were on the ground shedding blood, sweat and tears in the streets for the last 4-8 years, they were also present in some of the 400 plus bills collecting dust on Mitch McConnell’s desk. When told of this, instead of humbly conceding to the points being made he took a defensive stance uttered some ADOScentric jibber jabber and doubled down on the dumb shit. The interview(s) was a disaster and as he continued doing media tours trying to sell us on his sell-out plan he got worse and worse. When asked how he felt about the Trump campaign using his plan and his name in tweets as an endorsement even though he never formally endorsed him, Calvin simply said “both parties do that”. When asked about Trump’s penchant for giving life and energy to white nationalism he said both parties were racist. He was even asked (by a white guy) about police brutality and Trump’s refusal to utter a single word to deter police from killing Black people with impunity and once again Mr. Fuck The Police was on that all in the same gang bullshit before making it known that he was still yet undecided on who he was voting for. The last sit down with The Queens was perhaps his most telling. I will not bore you with a synopsis of it but I did leave the clip for you to catch in its entirety on your own time (feel free to circle back when you’re done reading).

Luckily for Calvin Palmer Jr. (and us) Shade 45 was not re-elected. Had the interference play that he and other members of the hip-hop community were hired to run worked he would undoubtedly have fallen further down this list among the irredeemable coons. But if he keeps tweeting fuckery such as the following illustration, he will undoubtedly reach the point of no return.

Trump ain’t even paying his own legal team for his millions in legal fees. For CubeAnon to repeat such a falsehood for public consumption means one of two things. It means he was fully complicit in the Trump plan to curtail the black vote, or he got conned by the same conman that Elizbeth and nem got conned by…

Number 17. Terrance Williams

SEND THIS TO EVERY REPUBLICAN

If y’all don’t object to the fake election result then we will object to you being re-elected!

FIGHT FOR TRUMP OR WE WILL NEVER FIGHT FOR YOU AGAIN!!

**RT if you agree

President @realDonaldTrump we got your back! January 6th #StopTheSteal

Originally tweeted by Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) on January 3, 2021.

Donald Trump is a certified grifter. That is a well know fact. Over and above the fact that he’s a grifter, his presidency has spawned a whole new level of coonery whereby the most random, mediocre Black faces feast off the crumbs from the table of a master grifter like himself in the most shameless fashion. We saw it first with Diamond & Silk. To these women’s credit they peeped game early and got in on the bonanza. “Comedian” Terrence K Williams is the 2020 version of Diamond & Silk. He, just like that Frick and Frack tandem are unabashedly in it for the money and I can’t fully blame these talentless twits for their low hanging fruit come ups because were it not for the Trump gravy train they’d likely qualify for the welfare programs that they decry. But I will call it what it is—COONING. The fact that a publishing house thought it prudent to market and distribute a book authored by this clown is proof enough. What the fuck is a foster house anyway? Either way, with Dumbo leaving the white house, I hope they still have beds for my dude because the grift is over for his type of coonery. I’m afraid the GOP will have to go back to their traditional stick (or whatever) up the ass Black Republicans that are much more bourgeoisie than bombastic with their political diatribes.

16. Terry Crews

While there are far more influential and frankly anti-black coons out here, Terry makes the grade for two reasons. First and for most for making this trash ass movie:



This movie was easily the worst made in 2020. It’s so bad that you almost want to watch it just so you can safely say that you watched the worst movie of the year. From the opening scene to the closing scene the shit got progressively worse. If Terry Crew’s mentality was summed up in a movie it would be that god awful John Henry. The other reason why he makes this list is due to his selective “wokeness”. It was laudable that he as a man could identify with the #MeToo movement (minus allowing another man to grab his dick) while calling out patriarchy and rape culture. As a Black man that understood the necessity of #MeToo I’m sort of perplexed that he struggles to keep that same level of energy, empathy and understanding for the even more necessary #BlackLivesMatter movement…

Like the coons before him his online activity is proof positive that he belongs on this list.

I’m convinced he wanted to be on this list. Shame on me for falling for it.

15. Herman Cain

Say what you want about the homie Mr. 999 but he was willing to lay down his life for the cause. He figuratively ran through a brick wall full speed to further the aims of people who paid less homage to his memory than folks did Dark Skin Jermaine. It is for that reason we feel compelled to posthumously bestow the 16th spot for the top 20 coons of 2020. How are you gonna give your life for the movement and they move on as if you were mere road kill (🦝)? To his credit his Twitter is still more poppin than the dude that he gave his life for.

14. Isiah Washington

My dude ain’t been the same since he tried to rape that gay dude on the Set of Grey’s Anatomy (or whatever they said he did). In classic coon fashion ole boy is a hop on hop offer. No core convictions, low self awareness and rather delusional in how grandiose he sees himself. From 2017 to 2020 he was a certified Black MAGA. A funny thing happened in-between the clock striking the new year and MAGA terrorists striking the US Capitol…

To his credit he is abandoning a sunken ship. Unfortunately it appears that he’s in too deep to escape the sunken place.

13 & 12. Herschel Walker (and his weirdo ass son)

In their own words…

Like father like son. Not much else to add.

11. Lil Wayne

This little junkie ass son of a grown ass man named Baby has been on the coon train for years now. If this raggedy ass little nigglett would not have received a pardon from Fuck Boy Forty-Five he would have been much closer to the number one spot for his betrayal of the culture. At least we now know why he sold his masters for a measly 100 million dollars. I wonder how much of the money went towards the ransom he had to pay to stay out of the fed pen.

10. Brandon Tatum

Brandon Tatum is actually a Coonvid-16 alumnus. He co-founded the Blexit movement with Candace Owens. The Blexit movement was of course a play on the Brexit term. The idea being that Black people should leave the Democratic Party in 2016 for the GOP as the Brits did the European Union. Even though Donald Trump won the 2016 election, it was not due to Black people in mass exiting the Democratic party for the GOP so therefore Blexit was a fail. But that ain’t why he’s on this list. I actually was not aware of this Coon prior Ahmaud Arbery being executed by some Georgian white supremacists. Before any of the most damning facts came out he rushed to victimize the victim by posting a bunch of speculative things that turned out not to be the case. He criminalized Arbery and tacitly excused his killers. He later went on to do another video about the Elijah McClain where he was even worse. He falsely stated that Elijah McClain initiated the contact with the police and blamed him for his own murder.

Like the Coon Terrance Williams he is all about the grift. After each and every whack ass video he puts out he drops links to merchandise that he sells to his mostly all lives and Blue Lives matter viewership. He’s another one that will be looking for a new hustle once the MAGA era subsides and police accountability becomes a national security imperative.

9. Tim Scott

Tim Cain is your typical garden variety coon. He’s what we call a classic coon (also known as a stick up the ass coon). He’s likely been that one black friend, one black neighbor, one black classmate and co-worker for most his miserable life so being a coon is kind of his natural inclination. As oxymoronic as it sounds unlike many others on this list he’s keeping it real. He really is a racist white man trapped in the body of a lame ass Black man.

8. Ben Carson

This nigga ain’t been the same since they performed that lobotomy on him swapping his once gifted hands for his now grafted mind.

7. Clarence Thomas

If we were compiling the all time greatest coons list no doubt Clarence Thomas would be number one because there has been no Black man (past or present) that has contributed as much towards the maintenance of the white supremacist construct while simultaneously holding back Black progress than Clarence Thomas. Clarence Thomas is to cooning what Michael Jeffery Jordan is to basketball. And unlike in MJ’s case there is no GOAT debate. Clarence Thomas is GOAT of cooning. But yet and still the best that we could do this year is give him the number 7 spot. To be clear it’s not because he lost a step in his step & fetch routine. It’s simply that 2020 was such a vintage year in cooning that he was outcooned.

6. Jason Whitlock

This lame and lazy ass tub of lard built an entire sports journalism career on coonery. For the last several years his job at Fox Sports was to make white guys shaped like him feel more superior than the greatest black athlete. Especially if said great Black Athletes are outspoken. Nothing gets under this dudes skin more than a Black athlete standing firm. To be an unapologetic Black man in the sports world is to be an anathema to everything that this dude represents. If you asked Whitlock 45 is not the bigot, LeBron James is real bigot . In fact according to Fatlock, Black men are actually starting to wake up to the goodness of the Donald.

I Think we have been carrying on a facade for three-and-a-half years as a Black men that somehow we can’t relate to Donald Trump, that we didn’t celebrate him in hip-hop music for decades, that he wasn’t friends with countless Black athletes, entertainers, celebrities…That facde is starting to end…and I think that’s why you’ve seen the rapper Ice Cube, you’ve seen 50 Cent and Kanye start reaching out and acknowledging the truth that they really don’t have a problem with Donald Trump ~ Jason Whitlock

To be clear, there is some truth to what Coon number 6 is saying. However to the extent that Black men in America relate to the 45th president of these United States is the extent at which these misguided brothers are moved by sentiments of patriarchy, self centeredness and narcissism. His racism is just the cost of doing business and so long as said racism does not affect them or their pockets they are good. And that’s why we call them coons. But they remain a small percentage of Black men overall but Jason Whitlock is indeed one of them.

5. Vernon Jones

Vernon Jones is a congressional representative from Georgia. He was a life long Democrat who switched allegiances to Republican party. He penned an open letter to white people explaining why:

I am no longer a Democrat. I cannot stand for the defunding of the police, higher taxes on working families and job-killing socialist policies that will devastate Americans of all walks of life… Is how he starts the mindless missive.

He goes on to mention his strong support for police at least 4 more times with no mention of police accountability or the fight to protect Black people from being abused by police. Even more than a coon, this dude is a coward. Hopefully the Black people in his district will awake to his coonery and boot him out of office in 2022 because such a Black man in office is dangerous for our community.

4. Candace Owens

Candace Owens is another Coonvid-16 alumnus. As a matter of fact she is the Valedictorian of the 2016 Coonrona class. She more than any of these other new school coons perfected the art of the grift. She was a chief organizer and architect of the young Black Dummies for Trump movement…

In the YBD’s defense, it was not just the propaganda pushed by Owens motivating them flock to the White House in new school Nazi regalia—they were also being paid by this mistress of misinformation. So says Robert Longfellow who furnished receipts in his article aptly titled: Edgeless Candace Owens Pays Black People to Attend Donald Trump’s Latest Stunt.

For all the cooning that she did in 2020 she still ended up getting passed over when it came to the GOP Donald Trump convention and that obviously that made her feel some type of way…

…It seems they might have a new flavor of the month.

3. Kim Klacik

Kim Klacik was to Candace Owens in 2020 what R Kelly was to Aaron Hall in the 1990’s. Kim came in and stole all of ole girls thunder. Her Brazilin weave and Wringling Brothers make-over supplanted Candace’s plain Jane split end look with the Good Ole Boys. Rhetoric wise it was pretty much all the same. She made her national debut by riding off of the public angst that the 45th president directed at the late Representative Elijah Cummings while chair of the House Oversight Committee investigating the Fuckery between he and the Russians. She sent out a tweet lambasting Cummings and Baltimore that was later re-tweeted by the dude that can no longer tweet. It went viral and she instantly gained most favored coon status. So much so that she was able to parlay her disrespectful words about Baltimore and Elijah Cummings to a run for the late representatives vacated seat. Thankfully she lost but not before having a Million Karen March through a three block radius in Baltimore trying to bring more shame to the community and culture while shamelessly cooning for kudos.

2. Kanye West

Kanye was the first major hip-hop artist to co-sign and endorse the overt white supremacist in office. His betrayal of the culture opened up the doors for others to do the same. He is what we call the ultimate culture vulture. This culture gave him more fame and fortune than he could have dreamed of but some how it still was not enough. He used the perch that the culture has given him to re-distribute white supremacist misinformation and propaganda to. For that he should never be forgiven. I don’t care how crazy the dude acts. Fuck him forever!

1. Daniel Cameron

May the spirit of Breonna Taylor forever haunt this sick and sorry son of bitch ass nigga. There is no greater example in 2020 of a Black man betraying the Black community than what this sucker ass dude did to our beloved sister Breonna. If “on sight I’m beating that ass” was a person that person’s name would be Daniel Cameron. Nothing short of a beat down is deserved by this dude and I pray that it one day happens. I also pray that it be recorded for public consumption so that it would deter future coons from committing such dastardly deeds to further ingratiate themselves with their white supremacist handlers.

The role that Cameron played in the miscarriage of justice endured by Breonna Taylor’s family and by extension the Black Community will be with us for posterity. He will be the poster boy for selling out the Black race for years to come. This is an offense against the culture and entire human family that should never be forgotten. He needs to pay for the bitch ass move he pulled. By any means necessary. Periodt!

Honorable Mention

Destination Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Top 100 Coons of 2016 part two of two (49-1)

As bad as cast of characters were in act one, their black cards don’t necessarily need to be revoked–at least not permanently. Act two though? These 50 coons for the most part are coons that black people need to collectively shun for good barring a 180 degree about face from whatever the infraction(s) was that landed them in such dubious company.

Coontestant# 49 Cam Newton

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Based on his offense to blackness  in 2016 Cam actually belongs in the first group of redeemable coons. Cam is setting off the coon for life team via extrapolation. In 2015 Cam embraced being a strong and proudblack man, much to the chagrin of the Carolina fan base and of course team ownership. So what did they do? They decided to bring in GOP spin doctor and race bait extraordinaire Frank Luntz to be the quarterbacks coach on navigating conversations on social issues and race, and boy was Cam a quick study.

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cam-we-are-all-the-same-color

At the rate of change that Luntz’s tutelage had on Cam, if he remains the QB’s race coach for much longer Cam will indeed become the second coming of Sammy Sosa–and much closer to the number one spot in the next year. Here’s hoping that Cam listens to more sounds of blackness in 2017 and less Frank Luntz.

#uncoonthyselfcam

Coontestants 48-46 Alicia D White, Caesar R Goodson and William Porter

While these three coons did not directly kill Freddie Gray, they grossly abdicated their civic responsibilities, their blackness and their sheer humanity to protect the blue shield. They were charged along with the three white officers who were actually the ones that mortally wounded Gray in an attempt to get to the truth. In the end the the well intended  tactic failed. Largely because of these three coward ass coons.

freddy-gray

With the cooperation of the aforementioned three coons, all of the charges stemming from Freddie Gray’s murder were dropped on all six suspects.

#blackcooopblackcopblackcopblackcop

 

Coontestant# 45 Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

steph-vs-marilyn

After prosecutor Marilyn Mosby took the courageous and unprecedented step of casting a wide net to prosecute the murder of a citizen  by the police her mayor threw her under the bus by claiming that she (Mosby) was bowing to political pressure as opposed to trying to solve a murder perpetrated by the state. She also insinuated that Mosby was not ready for the big stage, and when her city cops instigated a  “riot”, instead of empathizing with the young black youth that were being antagonized by her city police officers she publicly called the kids thugs.  Rawlings-Blake was and remains solidly on the side of the Baltimore Police Department despite the fact that the Justice department revealed systemic abuses. She is yet another black face put in a high place to protect white supremacy and maintain the status quo.

#olemammyassmammy

Coontestants #44-39 (washed up former athletes for Trump)  Mike Tyson, Latrell Sprewell, Terrell Owens  Shawn Merriman and Floyd Mayweather

It greatly pains me to put a former main man (Mike Tyson) on this list, but gotta go gotta go. When your allegiance to a purveyor of such overt bigotry and racism is stronger than your allegiance to your people you have out lived your worth to the community.

 

#allfuckboysquad

Coontestant# 38 Katrina Pierson

katrina-pierson

This bubble headed broad was Donald Chrumps national spokeswoman during  his campaign and as ridiculous and juvenile as his little twitter fingers are, hers were worse. So much so that she did not even get a White House job after all the cooning that she did to help get him elected. She’s made more appearances on milk cartons in the mid-west than she has on cable news since Trump was elected.

#whereswaldo

 

Coontestant# 37 Malik Obama

malikobama-gross

This coon from another continent and half brother of President Barack Obama was hired by Donald Chrump to be a prop at his last debate verse Hillary Clinton. He pulled off the trifecta with that coon move. He sold out African-Americans, his family name and the entire continent of Africa.

#dreamsofmyhalfwithalfbrother

 

Coontestamt#36 Armstrong Williams 

armstrong-williams

Armstrong Williams has been cooning since before Tookie Williams was banging. This OG coon has been pushing the white supremacist agenda for so long that I almost for got that he rode the coon train. The television host, business partner and bff of Dr. Ben Carson had an up and down year himself. While his media empire continues to grow and he remains one of the most successful black men in media ownership his penchant for sexually harassing males continue to haunt him…

Armstrong the freak.PNG
Excerpts from the Washington Post

I wonder what his bff Ben Carson who is anti-gay to the extreme feels about his homies predisposition for getting butt massages by men.

#liketwohangersinacloset

 

 

Coontestant#35 Stacy Dash

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Stacy Dash aside from being a certified coon for life is a glutton for punishment and addicted to the game of rotisserie roast-me on twitter. She started 2016 out on the wrong foot by decrying the inherent racism of the Image Awards, BET and even going so far as to say that Black History month needed to be abolished. Her timing was impeccable because a week after she made the comments the NAACP image awards came and she was roasted by host Anthony Anderson who said

 “Everybody give a round of applause for Stacey Dash…What the hell is she doing here? Doesn’t she know that the Fox network is using her? She’s just an Ann Coulter dipped in butterscotch. That’s all she is. Baby, don’t let them use you! …Come back to the black people and get back to work on some of those beautiful C-movies that you used to do!” ~ Anthony Anderson

 And of course Black Twitter had to get a piece of the action

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BET was among the  first of many in the Twiterverse to clap back

 While Twitter had a ball with her coonified faux pas in 2016 unfortunately there will be less opportunities to lampoon her lunacy because Fox News declined to extend her contract for 2017. All that cooning she did and still got dropped. I wonder if BET is hiring???
#biggestloser
Coontestants 34-25 Allen West, Jesse Lee Patterson , Herman Cain, Larry Elder, Niger Innis, Raven Symone, Pastor David Manning , Charles Payne and Bob Johnson
 These ten consummate coons did not do or say anything of note in 2016. At least nothing more noteworthy than what we have all come to expect from them but what’s a coon list without adding them. The marvel is the fact that none of these handkerchief heads cracked the top 10 or even 20 this year.
#tradethemallforacartonofnewports
Coontestant #24 Lesean “Shady” McCoy 

lesean-mccoy

If he needs help, he’ll call the cops ~ Shady  McCoy on Colin Kapernicks protest

#suckerniggashit

 

 

Coontestant#23 Steve Perry

For most of this dudes career in public life and as a “school reformer” he’s flown far under the radar coondar. It makes him one of the more dangerous coons in America, specifically because his end goal is the destruction of the public school system and the teaching profession-particularly those in black communities. One of the few silver linings in Donald Chrump becoming the president is the fact that the insidious and dastardly deeds as they pertain to his work with school reform overtly dovetails with the plans that the new president has for inner city schools and he is rightly starting to be called out for it and it’s getting harder and harder for him to conceal his true motives.

 #teamvulture
Coontestant# 22 Lee Daniels

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“I wanted white people to feel good about being white people because right now, there’s a lot of hatred going on.”~ Lee Daniels

This dude has been speaking reckless for sometime now. His quizzical reasoning for why he cast a white star is as befuddling as it is bemusing.

#empireisgarbagewhywouldiwanttoseeabeckyversionofthattrash

 

 

Coontestant# 21 Tim Scott

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We would be remiss not to add this guy to the list. With Obama leaving office and Justice he’s the most powerful black man in the nation. And with those powers he votes lock step with the avowed racists in the US senate. From repealing voter rights and protections to removing the social safety net for the most needy this dude is as “ain’t shit” as they come.

 

#thespookatthesenatedoor

 

 

Coontestants# 20-19 Diamond & Silk

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This is what happens when rats and raccoons crossbred. These two Ratcoons better known as Diamond and Silk are the human equivalent of a Fox News merger with BET. If Azelia Banks and Carlton Banks ever had twins Diamond & Silk is who they’d grow up to be like. These hood possums are a viral minstrel show and are unabashed about it.
 #lacefrontlosers
Coontestant# 18 Jason Whitlock
 jason-whitlock
 Jason Whitlock is another long time coon who has a fairly broad media perch for which he uses to spread his cooned out opines.
Jason Whitlock on Black lives matter:African-Americans are more likely to be struck by lightning than to be killed by police
Jason Whitlock on Colin Kapernicks protest: “This kid was about Instagram models, tattoos, his abs and building up the Colin Kaepernick brand — until the very moment he loses his starting quarterback job, and now he’s out here and he’s ‘Martin Luther Cornrow.’ And he’s got cornrows, he’s Allen Iverson, he’s Angela Davis. I don’t buy it
 It’s rather obvious that he hates the black skin that he was born in. It’s unfortunate that he is given such a wide ranging perch on television, radio and print media to misinform the masses while codifying the white supremacist construct.
#willcoonforburgers
Coontestant#17  Justice Clarence Thomas
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Now that Justice Scalaia is dancing with the devil until the end of eternity  and unable to stick his hand up this clowns ass to play puppet master, he’s a rudderless coon on the bench less able to fuck over the country and black people by extension. He still however is one of the most destructive coons to black progression of all time so  his falling out of the top ten has much less to do with him doing less cooning in 2016 and much more to do with the the uptick in competition coonpetition for that number one spot.

#kingofcoons
Coontestant#16 Kanye West
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 Kanye has been on a collision course with coonery for a while now. And while his fragile mental state is cause for more empathy and understanding than scorn and rebuke we’ed be remiss to omit him from making the top 20 list for 2016. With love of course.
#comebackhomeyezzy
Coontestant# 15 Officer Brentley Vinsonofficer-brentley-vinson
 The man on the left is Keith Lamont Scott. Someone who was minding his business reading a book in his car while waiting to pick his kid up from school. The coon on the right is Brently Vinson, the Charlotte officer that murdered him for no reason at all. And while I do think that it’s possible a black man joinging a racist police force such as Charlotte could lead to him becoming a coon, something tells me that Vinson was a coon long before he received his badge. He’s a graduate of Liberty University. What Black man goes there that is not already a coon?
#
Coontestant# 14 Sgt.  Demetrick Pennie
demetrick_pennie
 This coon with a badge just wanted to make his name known as a proud member of the Procyon species of mammal. Why else would he bring forth such a frivolous suit? This is what you call “how to get on Fox news 101”. i should not even be giving him the attention but how can he not make this list? This coon is being used as a pawn in a law suit not only naming Black Lives Matter, but also President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Al Sharpton. This coon is literally throwing his feces at the wall with hopes that is sticks.
#monkeycoonpigandratallrolledinone
Coontestant# 13 Howard Croft
howard-croft
 Howard Croft served as the City of Flints director of public works from 2011  until he was forced to resign in 2015. His position oversaw the flint water distribution system. It was him that brought the recommended changes that had the then city emergency manager Ed Kurtz switch the cities water source to the Flint River. He along with Kurtz has been indicted and is facing up to 20 years. Luckily he has the face of a snitch and all indications are he is doing just that as his previous counsel dropped him for meeting with investigators alone and rumors that the governor Rick Snyder too will soon face indictment. Stay tuned…
 #nevertrustaniggathathasapartonthesideofhishead
Coontestant #12 Darnell Earley
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 Darnell Earley is one of the emergency managers that the governor hand picked to run many of the cities in the state of Michigan. Even before the Flint water crisis that he helped cultivate and cover up he was a certified coon because he was used as a tool to usurp the sovereignty and franchise of the black people of the cities that he was appointed. He basically helped render their votes impotent because no matter who the citizens of Benton Harbor, Flint or Detroit elected, he and the other emergency managers were placed in charge of their city. He eventually replaced Ed Kurtz as city manager of Flint during their ill-fated switch to the Flint river for the cities water supply. Despite knowing that poisons from that river was literally making the citizens of the city sick to death. He too is facing indictment. He even had the audacity to try and stick the cash strapped city of Flint with the bill for his $750 per hour lawyer.
#heneedstobewaterboardedwithflintwater
Coontestant#11 Pastor Mark Burns
pastor-mark-burns-1
 This extra mediocre fuck boy is your typical witless and talent-less tool. A coon of his stature normally would not make it so close to the top 10 even in a non-vintage year. He makes it this high on the list for the sheer audaciousness of his cooning ways. After cooning his way into a speaking gig at the GOP convention it all came crashing down when his bio was discovered to have been replete with alternative facts. He stated that he was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity that was a lie, he said that he was in the Army reserve, and that too was proven to be untrue. His being enrolled in a masters of divinity program also was a figment of his imagination. He was confronted with all of these stretches of the truth on camera in a sit down interview with CNN. It was so bad for the coon that he tried to go off the record mid interview and when that did not work homeboy walked out of the interview leaving the CNN correspondent all by his lonesome in his 400 square foot church. In the end Massa Trump took him off the coon circuit and his ass ain’t been seen since.
#outcoonedhimself

 

Top 10 coons of 2016

 

Coontestant# 10 Pastor Darryl Scottdarrell-scott-donald-trump-r
 Pastor Darryl Scott is the lead vocalist in the Black Preachers for Trump crew.
black preachers for trump
In fact Darryl Scott is the Michael to Pastor Burns Tito in so far as what they mean to the BPFT movement.
preachers-for-trumpo

So far he has not been able to parlay his pulpit cooning into a steady job with the administration so for now he has to settle for being the right hand coon to Donald’s right hand coon.

 

#

Coontestant# 9 Lil Wayne
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 Wayne actually looks like the physical manifestation of a rat and raccoon encounter during mating season. His music has long been of the minstrel type. However as demeaning and degrading as his music has been over the last couple of decades he managed to make occasional  dalliances with the reality faced by many of his fans that made him the mega rap star that he is. That’s why is answers to some very basic questions into his level of black consciousness left so many bemused.
Lil Wayne on Colin Kapernicks protest:
“I’m not into it enough to even give an opinion. Somebody had to tell me why he was doing it. That’s how much I didn’t know what was going on, and I kinda still don’t. Somebody gotta explain to me like, ‘Yo, he kneeling because of Black Lives Matter thing and because’—that whole wave just went by me too fast for me to give an opinion.”
 Lil Wayne on racism:
“These 33 years have been nothing but a blessing,” Wayne said on the show. “I have never—never’s a strong word. I have never, never dealt with racism and I’m glad I didn’t have to.” Tunechi added that he didn’t know if being a star made him immune to racism, but he now knows racism does exist despite racism not being his reality, continuing, “I would have to say I thought it was over. I still believe it’s over, but, obviously it isn’t.”
Lil Wayne after black twitter got wind of his coonery:
lil-wayne
#boycotthisbullshitmusic
Coontestant# 8 Jim Brown
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 Jim’s late breaking 2016 coonery caught a lot of people by surprise but I can’t say that I am one of those folks. Jim has a reputation for being down for the historic causes on behalf of the black community but the truth us Jim has always been out for Jim.
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This famous photo of Jim Brown and other great black athletes in their prime years during the 1960’s showing their unconditional and public support is something of an urban legend. Jim Brown is rightly credited with putting the group together, but the stated goal of this meeting of the minds has been obfuscated over the years. This meeting of hall of fame minds was the brainchild of boxing promoter Bob Arum. He tasked Jim Brown with gathering the group to convince Muhammad Ali to enlist in the Army so that his ban from boxing would be rescinded and they could all profit from the burgeoning closed circuit pay per view industry.   It just so happened that Ali was game enough for all of them and would not hear any of it. In the end these “well meaning” gentlemen & Jim settled for this iconic photo op.
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 Which brings us to his most recent photo op in the tale end of 2016. The one where Trump and his loyal brown minions sent him on the now familiar walk of shame through the Trump Towers lobby to deliver this barf inducing quip:
“I fell in love with him because he really talks about helping African-American, black people and that’s why I’m here” ~~ Jim Brown on Donald Trump
#fuckjimbrowntoo
# 7 Don King
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 About the only mantra more annoying than Don Kings “Only in America” chant is Don Trumps “Make America great again” so the natural synergy between the two Dons should surprise no one. What I did find just a little bit surprising is the level of minstrel that Mr.King stooped to while introducing him:
“You’ve got to understand, my black brothers and sisters, they told me, ‘You’ve got to try to emulate and imitate the white man and then you can be successful… So we tried that. They said, ‘If you can get some money, you can do this here.’ I told Michael Jackson, I said if you’re poor, you’re a poor negro – I would use the N-word – but if you’re a rich, you’re a rich negro; if you are intelligent, you’re an intellectual negro; if you’re a dancing and sliding and gliding nigger – I mean negro – you’re a dancing and sliding and gliding negro. So dare not alienate because you cannot assimilate. You know, you’re going to be a negro till you die.”
 #onlyinameriKKKa
Coontestant #6 Sherrif David Clarke
coon-clarke

Milwaukee sheriff David Clarke is one black man that has never met a shooting of an unarmed black man by a law enforcement officer that he did agree with. David Duke has more genuine love for black people than this afro goatee having nincompoop. In addition to being one of Fox News most prized props for misinformation he oversees as sheriff one of the deadliest jails in the country and for that he has legislators in his state asking that he be removed.

 

#hanghimbythechin

Coontestant# 5 Shaqcoon O’Neal
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 Shaq shot up the coon charts in 2016. His penchant for always paying homage to the police and being an honorary sheriff has always been a turn off but not enough to place him so high on the coon list or even on it at all. That was of course until her decided it prudent to give his incoherent and coonish opine on Colin Kapernick’s anthem protest on Fox & Friends of all places…
 “To each his own…I don’t really have a say on it, but I would never do that. My father was a military man, and you know, he protected this country. Uncles are in law enforcement, you know, they go out and work hard every day..People like Muhammad Ali and Bill Russell, they were one way their whole career. You can’t show us something, and then go to another just because of certain issues”~ Shaq
 Nigga what?!?!
What makes Shaq’s commentary so egregiously coonish is the fact that he’s part of the .001 percent of Black Americans. Unlike most of the coons that routinley grind our gears he’s far from being a mediocre negro. He literally hit the DNA lottery with his god given physique. He has zero reasons to be cooning and even less reasons to be sitting on the couch with the lame cast of Fox & Friends giving an opine on issues that require depth of understanding and nuanced thought. Big duffus has a PHD yet he let three stoogers from Fox News walk him into talking himself out of his black card.
#thebigcoon
Coontestant#4 Charles Barkley
charles-barkley
 Shaq’s partner in coon has much more experience in the area of catering to the angst ridden ego of white males so his offenses to black people and black culture is far less shocking. For him to out rank so many other certified coons he would however have to coon harder than he did in years past. Never one to back down from a challenge Barkley with the help of TNT put on a classical coon performance.
TNT has a 6 part series airing early in 2017 titled “The Race Card” which is a discussion around the hot-button issues that cause and comprise the strained racial relations in today’s America and they tapped Charles Barkley of all people to host the program. They might as well have named it “TNT Trolls Black America” because that is essentially what happened on the first stop of Coon conductor Charles. The first stop was in Baltimore Maryland and it came on the heels of a justice department report that highlighted systemic abuses of the residents of Baltimore at the hands of Baltimore City police. Charles however did not want to talk about that. He instead chastised the audience for not expressing condolences for 4 officers that were killed earlier in the week in other parts of the country. Needless to say that did not go very well. He ended up having  to be ushered out by security because they were big mad.
#chuckcoon
Coontestant # 3 Ben Carson
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 Dr. Ben Carson is the only coon on the Trump train that was able to engineer for himself a a cabinet position. Being a renowned brain surgeon one would think that naturally he’s be tapped to be the surgeon general. Not in Trumps White House. Carson was instead tapped to head up the department of housing and urban development, something he has next to no clue about. Other than the fact that he’s black and hails from the inner city he is qualified to run HUD in Trumpian thought. Why? Because when they gut the agency render it totally useless they will be able to point to their black token as the cause to shield them from claims of racism.
#coondoctor
Coontestant# 2 Ray Lewis
ray-lewis
 17 years ago Ray Lewis while partying at the Super Bowl in Atlanta with his boys got into some sort of conflict with two men who were both subsequently stabbed to death. Both of the victims blood made it’s way into Ray’s limo and the all white suit that his bama ass was wearing on that cold January day vanished from the face of the earth. Now I’m not calling Ray Lewis and murderer but that is what he was charged with and there was far more evidence linking him to the murders of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar than there was evidence linking OJ Simpson to the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown. Despite the damning evidence and in the case of his Easter Sunday suit the lack there of Ray was acquitted of all charges. By the court or law and by the court of ubiquitous negro opinion. To most of white America however he was still a thug unworthy of playing in the NFL. So he went from Ray Lewis the typical bad boy from the University of Miami to Creflo Dollar Jr with the extra preachy super annoying disposition. Yet and still most from the Negro delegation even still.  That obviously did not ingratiate himself enough with white America because in more recent years he’s incorporated some serious respectability negro politics into his spiel.
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  He started with making a bunch of lame videos appealing to the youth of Baltimore to behave and not riot in the face of police abuse then slowly but surely went full blown coon on us with several appearances on The Undisputed  hosted by fellow coon Jason Whitlock where they formed the greatest black tag team duo since Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas manned the squared circle. The Colin Kapernick story gave this tag team duo all kinds of coon life but that was just a warm up for Ray Ray. He too took the infamous walk of shame photo op at Trump Towers. But unlike Kanye, Jim Brown and Steve Harvey Ray looked like he was quite conformable in that setting.
 #rayraythemurdererliarandcoon
 Coon of the Year: Omarosa
omarosa
 This she devil right here is the most dangerous and despicable black woman in America–the world even.  She’s Kelly-Ann Conway with melanin and a functioning brain. She’s #blackgirlrocks minus a conscious.
omorosa
This cold calculating shrew is Donald Trumps bottom bitch and director of  African-American coon outreach for his administration. She’s the cunning concubine of the slave master… .
Ernistine.jpeg
 …but don’t mistake her for Ernestine.
 She’s much closer to the type of concubine that you’d find on the Candy land Plantation. You know the type that can’t live without master.
calvin-candie
 The truly unfortunate thing about her is the fact that she is smart, highly ambitious and talented. She knows more than the average coon and even more than the man that pays her a hansom  ransom to corral and create more coons. She’s gonna make coons out of a lot of men these next four years. I pray that in the next few years she does not morph into some sort of role model for the young black, melaninated  and impressionable young girls coming up. It’s bad enough that we have an avalanche of black men bending over backwards and forwards to appease the white male supremacist ethos that infects America. The last thing we need is a role model for young black girls to think it prudent to do the same. So while there’s no denying her drive and black girl magic, the fact that she uses her powers for evil purposes we’re going to have to shelve celebrating her achievements during the month of February.
#wedontneedanothercondi

STOP THE MADNESS: The mothers of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Jordan Davis and Dontre Hamilton are NOT the Mothers of the Movement

I’m probably gonna ruffle a few feathers with this one but someone has to do it. It has to  be said and overstated that The grieving mothers of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Jordan Davis,  Dontre Hamilton and Mike Brown are nothing close to being the mothers of any kind of movement and to label them as such for the express purpose of getting Hillary Clinton elected  president is as embarrassing as it is offensive. Offensive and embarrassing to the untold mothers who have had to bury their sons and daughters due to an encounter with an overzealous  non-empathetic cop and  offensive and embarrassing to the millions of people from all walks of life that have taken to the streets with myriad acts of civil defiance  seeking redress for the long standing and ongoing grievance of state, local and federal police officers abusing their authority and murdering innocent unarmed black people with impunity.

When Hillary was not on the chitterling circuit  with these mothers shoring up her southern  firewall (also known as the black vote) she was in the homes of the other half of her southern constituency (Dixicrats) raising funds and talking about “the issues”

The two diametrically opposed dispositions by Hillary Clinton in the last two videos is rivaled in galling political pivots only by the great feat that her husband pulled off in June of 1992 while he himself was on the stump. During Bill Clinton’s  first bid for the white house  he played the saxophone on the Arsenio Hall Show to illustrate how down he was with the blacks and ten days later at a Rainbow Coalition event using Jesse Jackson as a backdrop he conflated an  out of context a musing by Sister Souljah with some of the lyrics in one of her songs to build up a black radical  boogey monster  that he was there to destroy. He actually compared her to David Duke to an audience full of black people. Of course his true audience were not the black folks sitting in attendance.

bill plays the sax
June 3, 1992: Bill playing the sax on Arsenio Hall letting the good black voters of the 90’s know that he can shuck and jive with the best of them

bill clinton disses sister souljah
June 13, 1992: Bill Clinton using his invitation to a Rainbow Coalition Convention to assure the soccer moms and NASCAR dads of America that he is willing ready and able to put black folks in their place as Jesse Jackson looks on in bemusement.

To be clear the movement that they are referring to as being the progeny of these women is the #blacklivesmatter movement. And to be even more clear it is a movement  that the murders of the children of these women no doubt helped buoy and embolden. For that these women should be recognized for as having paid the ultimate sacrifice. No mother should have to endure what Sybrina Fulton, (mother Trayvon Martin), Lucia McBath,  (mother of Jordan Davis), Geneva Reed-Veal, (mother of Sandra Bland), Gwen Carr, (mother of Eric Garner), Maria Hamilton( mother of Dontre Hamilton) Samaria Rice (mother of Tamir Rice) or Lesley McSpadden (mother of Mike Brown) have had to endure. All of these women are inextricably linked to the movement due to their involuntarily blood sacrifice, but to call these grieving mothers the mothers of the actual movement is to deeply discount the millions of black mothers before them that have lost their children to state sanctioned and/or white vigilante violence. Before these women there was Mammy Till, mother or Emmit Till, Eloise Glover, mother of Clifford Glover, Kaddiatou Diallo, mother of Amadou Diallo, Valarie Bell, mother of Sean Bell and hundreds and even thousands of other mothers in the last decade alone that walked the same precarious walk that these mothers have had to. For these women to sell out their share of the movement for the perks and pittance that only a Super Pack with tons of dark money can afford is unconscionable. And no, I don’t have proof that this group of grieving mothers were paid for their less than logical endorsement but I’m pretty sure that they were.

The true irony in  the Stockholm like love that Hillary is getting from the “Mothers of the Movement” and the millions of other less than enlightened black politicos, pundits and voters that have her well on the way to the democratic presidential nomination is that she has successfully  latched herself on to a movement created to abate a problem that she and her husband greatly exacerbated while Bill Clinton was president and she was the first lady touting his “tough on crime” legislative goals.

Mike Browns mother Lesley McSppaden encapsulates the kind of incongruity inherent in the logic of these mothers “I’m with her” proclamation with this ringing yet confusing endorsement.

Since August 9, 2014, I have wondered where do we go from here? I have made it this far by my faith, but we need more than faith. Our criminal justice system is broken and damaged, and it left broken hearts and damage in our communities. Fixing this will require time and commitment of someone who wants to make things better for us all. I want a leader who is willing to take the steps to reform a justice system that dehumanized my son. I want a leader who will now honor my son’s life and fights for our children’s futures. I want a justice system that is fundamentally based on fairness for everyone…This election season, we are at battle for the soul of our nation…if we want to continue to build on the progress made by our country, we need a president who is ready to lead–and I trust Hillary” ~ Lesley McSppaden

Ms. McSppaden seems to have a solid grasp on the kind of cultural construct in law enforcement that deems it prudent to dehumanize and over criminalize black people to justify their lethal method of policing but she seems totally oblivious to the not so hidden political forces that empower them. For every 100 police officers that have said “I feared for my life” or “he reached for my gun” to explain away them shooting to death an unarmed African-American there’s at least that many politicians on the local, state and national level pushing the kind of hyper-criminalized trope to create the space for these men to continue to get away with murder. It’s no coincidence that the super predator trope was used by Darren Wilson to escape justice after he murdered her son in cold blood. I mean he did not come out and call Mike Brown a Super Predator but you’d be hard pressed to argue that he was not inferring as much after reading the following quotes of his to the grand jury that ultimatley decided that he was justified in killing McSppaden’s son.

Darren Wilson on the initial confrontation at his car:

DW: I see them walking down the middle of the street. And first thing that struck me was they’re walking in the middle of the street. I had already seen a couple cars trying to pass, but they couldn’t have traffic normal because they were in the middle, so one had to stop to let the car go around and then another car would come. And the next thing I noticed was the size of the individuals because either the first one was really small or the second one was really big...

He then grabs my door again and shuts my door. At that time is when I saw him coming into my vehicle. His head was higher than the top of my car. And I see him ducking and as he is ducking, his hands are up and he is coming in my vehicle.

I had shielded myself in this type of manner and kind of locked away, so I don’t remember seeing him come at me, but I was hit right in the side of the face with a fist. I don’t think it was a full-on swing, I think it was a full-on swing, but not a full shot. I think my arm deflected some of it, but there was still a significant amount of contact that was made to my face.

And when I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan.

prosecutor/defense attorney*: Holding onto a what?

DW:Hulk Hogan, that’s just how big he felt and how small I felt just from grasping his arm.

Prosecutor/defense attorney*: And it was your opinion that you needed to pull out your weapon because why did you feel that way, I don’t want to put words in your mouth?

I felt that another one of those punches in my face could knock me out or worse. I mean it was, he’s obviously bigger than I was and stronger and the, I’ve already taken two to the face I didn’t think I would, the third one could be fatal if he hit me right.

He grabs my gun, says, “You are too much of a pussy to shoot me.” The gun goes down into my hip and at that point I thought I was getting shot. I can feel his fingers try to get inside the trigger guard with my finger and I distinctly remember envisioning a bullet going into my leg. I thought that was the next step.

Like I said, I was just so focused on getting the gun out of me. When I did get it up to this point, he is still holding onto it and I pulled the trigger and nothing happens, it just clicked. I pull it again, it just clicked again.

At this point I’m like why isn’t this working, this guy is going to kill me if he gets a hold of this gun. I pulled it a third time, it goes off. When it went off, it shot through my door panel and my window was down and glass flew out of my door panel. I think that kind of startled him and me at the same time.

Darren Wilson on what happened once he exited his vehicle:

DW: The only way I can describe it, it looks like a demon, that’s how angry he looked. He comes back towards me again with his hands up.

When I look up after that, I see him start to run and I see a cloud of dust behind him. I then get out of my car. As I’m getting out of the car I tell dispatch, “shots fired, send me more cars.”

We start running, kind of the same direction that Johnson had pointed. Across the street like a diagonal towards this, kind of like where the parking lot came in for Copper Creek Court and Canfield, right at that intersection. And there is a light pole right there, I remember him running towards the light pole.

So when he stopped, I stopped. And then he starts to turn around, I tell him to get on the ground, get on the ground.

He turns, and when he looked at me, he made like a grunting, like aggravated sound and he starts, he turns and he’s coming back towards me. His first step is coming towards me, he kind of does like a stutter step to start running. When he does that, his left hand goes in a fist and goes to his side, his right one goes under his shirt in his waistband and he starts running at me.

At this point it looked like he was almost bulking up to run through the shots, like it was making him mad that I’m shooting at him.

And the face that he had was looking straight through me, like I wasn’t even there, I wasn’t even anything in his way.

And when he gets about that 8 to 10 feet away, I look down, I remember looking at my sites and firing, all I see is his head and that’s what I shot.

I don’t know how many, I know at least once because I saw the last one go into him. And then when it went into him, the demeanor on his face went blank, the aggression was gone, it was gone, I mean I knew he stopped, the threat was stopped.

 

Again he did not call Mike Brown a super predator but he sure did describe him as such. He actually got away with telling a jury of HIS peers that Mike Brown who was unarmed and already wounded by at least one round from his .40 caliber pistol grunted at him and charged him head on before having to be put down for good with what was left in his clip. If only Mike Brown’s mother and the mothers of the other well chronicled victims of police abuse were enlightened enough to connect the dots they would know that Hillary is neither a leader or a visionary when in comes to truly understanding and rectifying the problem of our broken criminal justice system.

Hillary did not invent the Super Predator bathos and neither did Bill Clinton. They both however used it in the most insidious and political expedient ways to justify their means to an end. These mothers have every right to endorse who they wish but I don’t think that it’s too much to ask them to leave the movement out of such a dubious decision.  They certainly cannot lay claim to the “Mothers of the Movement” moniker while bestowing undue praise on the very same  people who helped necessitate the movement in the first place.

 

the real mothers of the movement
Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi are the creators of the #blacklivesmatter hashtag. A hashtag that has helped galvanize and inspire millions to fight back. If there is a mother to the movement these three women are it.

 The 4 Block Buster deadline Trades That No One Is Talking About

The NBA trade deadline came and left last week  with little to no hoopla, fanfare, or late breaking news of any kind of three team swap changing the predictable balance of power in either conference. It’s been something of a downer for us fans of the game that like just a little bit of drama to go with our hoops. However, in lieu of Kevin Love not becoming a Celtic, Laker or Clipper; despite Carmelo having a no trade clause in his contract and irrespective of the fact that Dwight Howard & James Harden are married at the hip for at least the remainder of the season there still  were some really block busting trades consummated at the 11th hour of last weeks NBA’s trade deadline. The NBA NRA (National Racial Association) quietly announced four huge trades.

The Fine Print

The NBA collective bargaining agreement states that in every trade the two parties being traded must be within 125% of each other salary wise. Since the NRA does not track the salaries of those on the trading block the formula that they  use to remain in compliance with the collective bargaining agreement are the professions (or lack there of) of their trade prospects. So for an example if  I was the sole arbiter of what was and was not a fair trade I would gladly trade Dr. Ben Carson for the Puppy Monkey Baby. Only problem with that is the fact that Dr. Ben Carson is a world renowned neurosurgeon and the Puppy Monkey baby a prop from a Super Bowl commercial. The Puppy Monkey Baby maybe a bit more cogent and capable of carrying on an adult conversation but it’s hardly enough to compete with a guy that has on his resume the separation of Siamese twins  conjoined by the noggin-even if that guy is a certified loon.  So it  goes without saying that such a trade would not be approved by the Association. So much to the chagrin of the Black delegation Dr. Carson will remain a part of the black community for the foreseeable future. The good news for the black delegation however is they did find trading partners for four other blacks that have long been considered  to overstayed their welcome in the community and in need of having their respective black cards revoked. I’m certain that most would agree with the following deals that were most recently agreed upon before the trade deadline.

NRA Trade Number One: Stacy Dash for Gary Owens

gary-owen-stacey-dash

You don’t have to be the GM of the Lakers or  Celtics or be the next coming of Jerry West for this deal to have been your brain child. This particular trade comes straight out of No Brainerville. Two B-C rated actors that are already comfortable in the others skin (figuratively and literally) and seamlessly able to traverse cultures and code switch their way right up into the family. Stacy Dash went from being a video vixen extraordinaire  serving as eye candy to inner city generation X’ers with hip-hop proclivities to Fox News’s resident coonologist and eye candy for angry white ammo-sexual baby boomers. She’s been on the trading block since at least 2012at least 2012. Her decision to resurrect her  faint relevance as one of the resident Fox News Coontributors specifically hired to assuage the  guilt and placate the fragile feelings of the Networks Salty white Tear dripping viewership.  Just did not sit well with the home team. The straw that broke the camels back though was her latest viral diatribe  after being invited on the Fox & Freinds to opine on the #oscarssowhite controversy

STEVE DOOCY: What do you think about this?

STACEY DASH: I think it’s ludicrous.

STEVE DOOCY: Why??

STACEY DASH: We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration. And if we don’t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the Image Awards where you’re only awarded if you’re black. If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms. It’s a double standard.

STEVE DOOCY (HOST): So you say there shouldn’t be a BET channel?

DASH: No, I don’t think so. No. Just like there shouldn’t be a Black History Month. You know? We’re Americans. Period. That’s it.

DOOCY: Are you saying there shouldn’t be a Black History Month because there isn’t a white history month?

DASH: Exactly. Exactly.

 

She could not be any more clearer about want g out off of Team Blackness with that mindless missive. Not since Latrell Spreewell choked PJ Carlisimo in practice way back in 1997 has a player been so undisguised about wanting to be traded.

For Gary’s part he celebrated being traded to the black community just as you would expect a black person to do. He took to the Gram…

Welcome to the fam G!
img_3139

NRA Trade Number Two:Jason Whitlock  for Dave Zirin

 

With such a huge dearth in black journalism and the black perspective being bantered in the ether to compete with and combat mainstream media bias and mind manipulation it’s a shame that we have to put one of the more successful and widely read and regarded black sports writers on the market. But when the opinions you posit present more poison to the problematic nature of post Fairness Doctrine specious and pernicious journalism as opposed to being an elixir to such a societal malady then you really have worn out your welcome and need to cease being a Journalist in Black Face. We are better off with you being on another team because a black face postulating white supremacist thoughts and codifying the inexplicable angst of a large swath of AmeriKKKa is actually worse than it is coming from your typical AM side of the dial angry white talk show host.  . As a sports writer Jason Whitlock has  been largely able to fly under the radar as it pertains to offering an opinion on the germane issues of the day. But on those rare occasions that he’s asked or tasked with taking on issues of equality, intersectionality,  and/or oppression nine times out of ten he’s going to offer a convoluted quip that Ted Nugent would be proud to re-tweet.

Dave Zirin on the other hand has long used his pen as a sword for social  justice and equality. Not just for black people but all oppressed, neglected and disaffected people around the globe. He’s penned several books that delve deep into the heart of the pertinent issues of the day from a high minded and holistic perspective. The John Carlos Story and Game Over are just two of the many books that he’s authored that I recommend as a great reads…


More recently these two contemporary sports writers had the prime opportunity to opine on the same issue tackling intersectionality in a sports related kind of way and their opinions  could not have been any more divergent. By now everyone is aware of Beyonce’s Super Bowl Performance where homage was paid to The Black Panther Party, victims of police brutality and mis-conduct as well as the LGBT community. The overall message was one that was about love and they went to great lengths to say as much.

But…

Pepsi Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show

…that obviously was not universally interpreted and understood and our latest trading partners could not have crystallized any better how differently the message in the music of the Super Bowl Half-Time show has been conveyed.

Jason Whitlock on Beyonce’s performance:

 

Beyonce, why are you bringing this rebellion to a sporting event? This is an event that all of America comes together, 100 million people around America and throw Super Bowl parties, we come together across economic and racial lines and it’s all just one good time and the players … represent all these great things in America. … Probably not appropriate for the Super Bowl. It’s just not that type of event.

If you want to send a message, if you want to pander to social media and Twitter, if you want to extend your brand by involving yourself in controversy, [then] what Beyonce did was absolutely brilliant. You listen to the song’s lyrics, there’s no real rebellion in it. None.

“So I can see how the NFL got fooled by this. They listened to the song, and there’s nothing to it. There’s no tribute to the Black Panther party or any real shots at Hurricane Katrina or anything like that in the actual lyrics of the song. You have to watch the video to get the rebellion. She didn’t release the video until the day before the Super Bowl. So I could see how the NFL got caught off-guard.

When you tie the whole thing together, Beyonce snuck in some subversiveness that has put her in the center of controversy and has enhance her and Jay-Z’s brand. They had been getting beaten up in social media by the Black Lives Matter movement, that ‘You don’t support us,’ ‘You’re not down with this movement,’ blah blah blah . . . Beyonce pulls off this publicity stunt and now she’s all good with the social-media crowd and the people involved with Black Lives Matters.

“It’s all just a game and a fun marketing tool for Beyonce. They’ll make more money out of this and enhance their brand. But they’ve also set off some divisiveness in America, and that’s what’s disappointing to me.” ~ Jason Whitlock

One thing we know for sure the homie Jason Whitlock has no qualms about telling us how he really feels. On the flipside neither does Dave Zirin as he penned a piece entitled In Defense of Beyonces Black Panther Tribute At the Super Bowl for The Nation. In it he goes on to say:

A whole hell of a lot of people on Fox News and in the right-wing sewers of the Internet have lost their damn minds. I am not going to link to the statements, ranging from the historically ignorant to the unabashedly racist, because that’s their game. But I will say that if you are comparing the Black Panthers to the KKK, like one police sergeant did on Facebook, you are only proving that the extent of your historical knowledge is what some asshole said on Twitter. It’s like “comparing Adolf Hitler to Richard Pryor because they both had mustaches.”

Yet despite the right-wing noise, Beyoncé’s performance has created space for a real conversation about the Black Panthers, beyond the caricature. It is a chance to get people to see the recent Stanley Nelson PBS documentaryVanguard of the Revolution or read The Black Panthers Speak or Seize The Time or any number of books. Just to give one example, the most illustrative, politically textured Panther memoir in my humble opinion is My People Are Rising by Seattle Black Panther Party founder Aaron Dixon. When Dixon’s book was released in 2012, I pushed people to read it on social media and among friends and was met with a tepid response. After Beyoncé’s performance, I went back and recommended it again. The reaction was off the chain.

Being in the Bay Area this week has also opened my eyes to another part of what made Beyoncé’s halftime performance matter. There are people here who have dedicated their lives to fighting police brutality—most recently in the form of the killing of Mario Woods—and for the rights of the homeless to not be treated like collateral damage of gentrification. They wanted the Super Bowl to be an opportunity to spotlight these issues for the country. Instead, they were met with a smothering police presence, indifferent media, and an NFL occupation that made swaths of their city resemble the Green Zone in Iraq. ~ Dave Zirin

It’s pretty clear from reading the thoughts of these two sports journalist that hearing more of the latter and less (a whole lot less) of the former would be sort of a good thing.

NRA Trade Number Three:Darnell Earley for Tim Wise

 

Most people don’t know who Darnell Earley is but I’m certain that they know his work.  Darnell Earley is the Emergency City Manager that was put in place by Governor Rick Snyder to run the city of Flint. There’s really not much else to say about this son of a bitch ass coon. He played a major part in poisoning the drinking water of an entire city full of lower middle class, poor black, brown and white people. He was then promoted to head the Detroit Public Schools to put the final nails on that coffin  before his previous dastardly deeds came back to haunt him and he was forced to resign due to the mess that he co-created in Flint. He was essentially a black face hired to push a white supremacist agenda and he did a stellar job at it.

Tim Wise on the other hand has been one of the more formidable and unabashed white voices against racism and prejudice in American society for the last 10 years. He’s nothing short of an ally in the fight against white supremacy so this one again was pretty much a no brainer.

NRA Trade number four:The Congressional Black Caucus for the Congressional Progressive Caucus

The CBC’s recent endorsement of Hillary for the democratic nomination over the much more progressive (and trustworthy) Bernie Sanders was rather disappointing. It however was not enough of a reason to put the CBC who has long been known as the conscience of the Congress on the trading block . The unconscionable and inexplicable reasons that the leadership gave for their endorsement is actually why they have been offered up for the kinder, gentler and much more socially aware  Congressional Progressive Caucus. It’s hard to begrudge Congressmen John Lewis and Congressman James Clyburn for endorsing a person who has helped their PERSONAL ambitions in maintaining their congressional seats by allowing some of the unmitigated and untraceable big money that flows through their coffers to trickle into their own respective campaign war chests. However when they conflate someone being able to help them personally with actually doing the same for the black community, the masses the have supported them for the last 40 years have every right to take umbrage with their reckless word choice on their already questionable endorsement.

Now don’t get me wrong. Someone simply doing what was right in 1963 or whatever year it was that Bernie Sanders marched for equality or was arrested at a sit in does not automatically earn the black vote in 2016. However dismissing his involvement in the Civil Rights movement because you are supporting someone was on the opposite end of the historical and  ongoing fight for justice is rather dubious.Take for instance John Lewis’s response to a reporter asking him about Bernie Sanders well documented dalliance with the Civil Rights movement during his college years:

Well, to be very frank, I’m going to cut you off, but I never saw him, I never met him. I’m a chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for three years, from 1963 to 1966. I was involved in the sit-ins, the freedom rides, the March on Washington, the march from Selma to Montgomery, and directed their voter education project for six years. But I met Hillary Clinton. I met President Clinton.”~ Congressman John Lewis

 

Lets parse that statement real quick. He is implying one of two things both of which are nonsensical.

A: he’s either implying that he knew Hillary and Bill from being supporters of Civil Rights some 50 years ago.

OR

He’s implying that he’s never in his life met Bernie Sanders. Both  statements are patently false. His statement was a conflation of facts. When you have to resort to that kind of double speak to justify endorsing a person then you deserve all the back lash that comes your way (as it did) to force you to eat your errant word play (which he did). Quite naturally he took a lot of criticism from corners of the political and social movement world that are in most cases reticent when it comes to critiquing elders from the civil rights time period. Predictably he was compelled to walk back his aggressive response to the innocuous query:

I was responding to a reporter’s question who asked me to assess Sen. Sanders’ civil rights record. I said that when I was leading and was at the center of pivotal actions within the Civil Rights Movement, I did not meet Sen. Bernie Sanders at any time. The fact that I did not meet him in the movement does not mean I doubted that Sen. Sanders participated in the Civil Rights Movement, neither was I attempting to disparage his activism. Thousands sacrificed in the 1960s whose names we will never know, and I have always given honor to their contribution…If you take a look at a transcript of my statement, you will find I did not say that I met Hillary and Bill Clinton when I was chairman of SNCC in the 1960s. My point was that when I was doing the work of civil rights, led the Voter Education Project and organized voter registration in the South in the 1970s, I did cross paths with Hillary and Bill Clinton in the field. They were working in politics, and Bill Clinton became attorney general of Arkansas in the 1970s as well. That began a relationship with them that has lasted until today~ John Lewis (mea culpa)

The double speak did not end there. Both he and congressman Clyburn both denounced the idea of free college. They said that such a thing sends the wrong message. Here are two men particularly in the case of John Lewis that purport to carry the torch of Dr. Martin Luther King and his fight for economic equality sounding like Paul Ryan when it comes to evening the playing field in a most fundamental way. It was only 8 years ago that Clyburn was denouncing the race baiting of Bill and Hillary in their nomination fight against Obama. Now he can’t stop extolling her virtues. Collegiality over conviction is what that amounts to. It’s certainly not egregious enough of an offense for an individual trade so both John Lewis, James Clyburn and every other member of the CBC (not named Mia Love or Tim Scott) are all on Team Blackness for life but as an organization in congress boasting the teams color and logo it’s time that we trade them in for a more forward leaning body in the House and Senate.  Even before the CBC bet their black card on Hillary Clinton they have been slowly but surely losing their way and subsequently the right to be called the Conscience of the Congress.  Just to illustrate a few of their more incorrigible misdeeds as a caucus the following list serves as exhibit A.

  1. In 2014 Rep Alan Grayson (of the Congressional Progressive Caucus) introduced a Bill to put an end to the Pentagon siphoning their military grade weapons and equipment off to America’s already overzealous police forces. The measure failed and only 7 of 41 members of the CBC voted to for it.
  2. They have in increasing numbers started to capitulate to the Wall Streets demands on regulating their blood sucking hood predators like Pay Day Loan and Rent-to-Own companies
  3. In 2008 the CBC Foundation which had raised over $55 million dollars from 2004-2008 spent more on a lavish banquet for ($700,000) than they did in scholarships that they awarded.

Again. As individuals the CBC members have little to worry about as far as being traded but as a collective the Black Delegation can do much better so…

 

 

 

Top 10 Coons of 2015

2015 was another coontastic year full of black folks doing their latest and greatest “Shuck & Jive” routine to remain in the good graces of mainstream conservative white America. I could go on and on for days about the kind of self loathing self centered and selfish motivations that go into making certain black men and women suspend all manners of pride and common logic while spewing the most embarrassing rhetoric for the sole purpose of ingratiating  themselves with the kind of dying breed of thought propagated on Fox news, but I don’t have all day and since we have already said farewell to 2015 I’m going to cut to the chase and share my top 10 Coons of the last 365 day cycle…

#10 Raven Symone

Raven the bird

Now Raven is probably one of the more innocuous additions to this list because unlike the coons that will  follow her she has not outwardly advocated for or co-signed the murder of black people, stumped for Trump or any of the more outlandish things that her brothers and sisters in coondumb are guilty of.

With that being said Raven is a black woman that has a national media platform and while The View to most serious people may be superficial day time programming in nature, Ravens words, thoughts and opinions reverberate and have wide spread resonance. With such a dearth in black voices in media she has a responsibility (whether she accepts this or not) to represent the overall interest of African-Americans as they portend to social uplift and all manners of equality. While Raven is far from the most egregious on air offender of black sensibilities I would be remiss not to coon-crown her for openly embracing discriminating against people with ethnic or as she puts it “ghetto sounding” names.

She received enough backlash for her banal brain musing that she did the unthinkable–at least for a coon. She actually apologized to black people and retracted her statement. And while there are other examples this year of her cooning we will not belabor the point because again, unlike the coons on the list that will follow her there is some hope. Let’s pray that she understands the error of her ways and does not make next year’s list.

#9 Jonathan Gentry

jonathan gentry

~ Now most don’t know this “Soul Glo” Negro. Hell, I barley know who he is. I just happened to pass one of his coonified productions on Facebook and could not help but to opine on the kind of chicanery  chicoonery that he had on display.  Of course the mostly all white people on his page that pats him on his greasy ass head for his Uncle Tom soliloquies rushed to defend their lawn jockey. My retort to his rabidly racist followers  ended up getting me a 30 day ban from Facebook…

Banned from FB pic


 

…so needless to say my number 9 selection was more personal in nature. Though the Coon-job that he’s pulling off is still worthy of mention.

 

#8 Rod Wheeler

wheeler

Rod Wheeler is another lesser known coon (unless you are a Fox Newsbot) who deserves some recognition for his incessant coonery and failing of black people in media. The following clip speaks for itself. As a black man and former police officer he has totally abdicated his responsibilities to the community by co-signing the deaths of the innocent victims of racist policing in America. His answer to how to stop police killings of unarmed black people is to get out of their way and let them do their jobs. Oh and that there needs to be a change at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He really said that…

#7 Kevin Jackson

kjacksonbookcover

Kevin Jackson is one of the better known hired guns (against black progress) of Fox News. He makes a living being the attack dog for white supremacy on air. No matter how egregious the offense to black people are he will always side with whatever Sean Hannity’s opinion is. He is to Sean Hannity what Justice Clarence Thomas is to Justice Antoion Scalaia–a lap dog.

His answer about what ails black America will always default to liberal policies, the Democratic party and Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson. No matter what the specific topic at hand is. I think we all know a coon or two like this guy.

#6 Diamond & Silk

diamonsnsilk

~ Now these two coonettes were plucked from under the same rock of obscurity that the rest of Donald Trumps dangerously uneducated following crawled from under. The two of these women together can be described as nothing short of a minstrel act. The kind of cooning that they have on display would normally grant them a higher ranking but as I said earlier–2015 was quite the coontastic year and these birds have little to no influence on even the most guile among us so all this performance really amounts to is a modern day Amos and Andy skit.

Two extra mediocre ghetto birds with lace front weaves endorsing Donald Trump and his Mein Kampf style of politics amounts to being just a misdomeaner in comparison to the Trump endorsements coondorsements to follow…

 

#5 The Black Preachers that endorsed Trump

black preachers for trump

…because after all not even the average ghetto bird will  follow these ghetto birds to the polls to vote for him. The Diamond and Silk coon combo at the end of the day will garner minimal (if any) black voters for Trump. Their purpose more than anything is to assuage white racist guilt and to allow Trump to keep on saying “The Blacks love me”. These black preachers stumping for Trump is a much more nefarious act of treason to the community because these men are literally paid to lead flocks of black people and they are knowingly leading their flock to vote for a man that overtly disdains them and is literally promising to increase their misery index. No matter what these men and women have done in their respective ministries in the past to uplift the community (if they’ve done that at all) they will now and forevermore be remembered for selling out the black and progressive cause for Donald Trumps chump change. They have reached the point of no return and are coons for life–the same holds true for their respective congregants. So yes, if you still sit in any of these house niggers pew on Sunday, you too are a coon for life.

Then there was this…

#4 Omorosa

omarosa-trump

Omorosa was the actual ring leader of the Black Preachers for Trump Coon Brigade. She’s higher on the list and singled out because in addition to being an ordained minister she’s a very accomplished woman and has enough merit and stripes that such cooning on her part for Donald Trump is wholly unnecessary. Her literally whoring for one of the most overtly racist men to run for president since Barry Goldwater should forever relegate her to being nothing more than a coon, bed wench, mammy (insert Uncle Tom pejorative of choice).

 

#3 Ben Carson

ben-carson-and-evolution-with-tardis-and-jesus-riding-dinosaur

~Mr. Gifted Hands has anything but a gifted mind. His meteoric yet ephemeral rise to the top of the GOP presidential polls mirrors that of Herman Cains rise (and fall) four years ago. By now it’s pretty obvious that both men are the ultimate tokens of the Grand Ole Party’s fledgling nomination process whereby they serve as the ultimate cover for the most ignorant and bigoted voters (and pollsters that corral them) in the nation and allow them to opine in the most mind numbing racist ways only to claim that they are not racist because they are voting for a buffoon named Ben. Even the dolts that claim to be supporting this useful idiot know that come Super Tuesday his name will be no where near a ballot.

Ben Carson is the Rain Man of brain surgery–politics not so much. In the school of medicine the dude is genius extraordinaire. In the school of politics, common sense and all things unrelated to cutting open the medulla oblongata, he’s arrested in his development  and suffering from an undiagnosed case of Asperger’s (no offense to anyone with a child on the autism spectrum).  He’s more socially awkward, inept and out of place on the national political stage than a 3rd grader at the opera. The good news is that by this time next election cycle he will be the same faint and distant memory (and footnote in history) that Herman Cain is today because his useful idiocy will have long expired. Enjoy Corky while you can.

#2 Sheriff David Clarke

David Coon Clarke

Sheriff David the Coon Clarke has never met a police shooting of an unarmed black person that he did not agree with or co-sign as great police work. His rise to notoriety (mostly via Fox and CNN) coincides with and is in direct correlation to the level of outrage generated by the myriad murders by police caught on tape. He’s paraded around the networks to basically explain away racist police policies and abuse of authority. This makes him one of the most dangerous men (for blacks) on television.

And oh yeah, his answer to what ails the black community is single black women.

#1 Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson

jesse-lee-peterson

Allow me to drop this verbatim right here (Rev. Jesse Lee Patterson on the Black Lives Matter Movement)

“It’s a hate group, they’re no different than the skinheads or the KKK. They are people who have never been taught to love. From the beginning of their lives they were taught to hate, blame and become victims. They’re just spending a lifetime blaming white Americans, blaming slavery for their lack of good parents in the homes and their lack of love… If Black Lives Matter was a white radical group, doing exactly what these black people are doing, they would be shut down. America would not allow that to happen…white Americans feel helpless and they have fear and they allow black lives matter, and other groups, to destroy our country…I’ve done a lot of work in the prisons and jails, and juvenile detention centers over the years. They have taught, and are teaching black youth, both male and female now, that Christianity is the white man’s religion and that Islam is the black man’s religion…At one point, I was a liberal Democrat, and I had the same anger as Black Lives Matter have because my father wasn’t there for me. Instead of people helping me to forgive him, they told me it was white racism, so I had to same hatred for white people…But I went to God and asked him to show me what was wrong, he  allowed me to see it was that anger that starts in the home.

Uncle Ruckus could not have said that any better (from the purview of a coon of course). And if that is not enough to justify his top billing as Coon of the year the following clip should cement his standing

When Sean Hannity has to tell you to dial back the coonery–you have officially earned the title Coon of the Year.

 

*Honorable Mention*

Clarence Thomas

Clarence Stephen Thomas

Charles Barkely

charles the coon

 

Don Lemon

donlemonsideeye

Stephen A. Smith

Stephen a smith

Taye Diggs

taye diggs

Anthony Mackie

anthonymackies

Stacy Dash

stay dash

Juan Williams

juan williams

Niger Innis

niger innis

Tommy Sotomayor

tjharrismugshot2

Wayne Bradley

wayneisacoon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#BlackLoveMatters

All lives matter cartoon
If any nuance is to be added to the #blacklivesmatter or #prayforsoandso hash tag movements it should be that black people need to learn how to love each other. #BlackLoveMatters! Not just the ones that are out in the streets perpetrating crimes against one another, the community and humanity as a whole–actually I’m not even talking about them because in most cases they don’t even love themselves enough to know the gravity of some of their acts. Even the most heinous acts like murdering a 9 year old kid just to get back at his gang affiliated father does not equate with a cop who swears to do right by the community doing the same thing to a 16 year old.
Glenbeck rally
 Misery loves company and the hood is replete with misery–you do the math.  Crime and poverty go hand in hand. Those of us who have made it out of the cycle of generational poverty and those of us who are a mere generation or two removed from the cycle need to undertake the task of loving and understanding each other, human history and the effects of protracted poverty on a given populace. When I hear people (especially black people) say things like “they only protest when a white cop shoots a black person but never do it when a black person kills a black person” I no longer have to patience to explain to them that such a disparate comparison makes sense only to the myopic minded Fox News viewer. No longer will I retort that cops are paid and empowered by the state to uphold the law and to serve and protect the communities that they are deployed and when they fail to do such a thing and decide play judge, jury and executioner all in a matter if seconds it’s a far more egregious crime than Pookie who is a  member of the Bloods gunning down Man Man who reps the Crips from the other side of the projects whose crews have been warring since long before either were born . Furthermore the likelihood that Pookie or Man Man were under and mis-educated is rather high. As is the likelihood that they lacked the requisite love and attention needed to grow from a boy to a man so even if Pookie and Man Man were born in 1979 they are so arrested in their development that comparing their actions to professional law enforcement and to hold them to the same moral code is nonsensical at best. It’s also an opine completely devoid of love, understanding and common logic. What people are really saying when they utter such bullshit is they don’t understand how the human mind works. What’s scary and depressing is many of these people have at least had the benefit of taking psychology 101 so to be so lost on the causal effects of trauma on the human condition is rather embarrassing. At least it should be.

In our collective DNA there’s over 400 years of oppression and trauma passed down from our ancestors–most of which spent their entire life in brutal bondage. Such residual effects should be the tie that binds the “talented tenth” to masses who in most cases lacked the helping hand or foot in ass that they had to break their cycle. Black love is being that helping hand and/or foot in the ass when called upon. The single biggest reason why you are not mired in the doldrums of generational poverty and hood stagnation that we often see recklessly bantered about on the news and in popular forms of black entertainment (movies, novels, TV)  is because someone extended a hand and foot to you when you most needed it.

So from here on out my resounding reply to all of those on the sidelines (because if you are parroting Fox News talking points you really ain’t doing shit for the community) saying things like #alllivesmatter or “black people don’t care about black on black crime” is #BlackLoveMatters.

 All lives march
Hopefully they won’t be so clueless that they fail to comprehend that I’m speaking about them and not Pookie, Man Man or any of the rest of the victims of white supremacy in America’s man made ghettos and hoods.

We appreciate you finally accepting the truth about that flag but who Killed Clementa Pinkney??

Let me preface this piece with the caveat that I am not a conspiracy theorist.  Really, I’m not. But… Who killed Clementa Pinkney? We all know who pulled the trigger, but who gave the order?  Who had Dylan Roof walk into Emanuel A.M.E. Church and murder in cold blood a sitting state senator?  A sitting state senator who was a rising star in South Carolinian politics. The kind of leader that comes around once every couple of generations with that rare, powerfully potent voice and requisite courage to speak the harsh truth to power was wiped off the face of the earth by an assassins bullet.  Sound like a familiar story?

Martin, Malcolm & Medgar 

For the uninitiated think Martin, Malcolm and Medgar. Oratorical juggernauts  at the apex of their organizational strength and leadership on the cusp forcing revolutionary change in the light of day while commanding an inordinate share of the daily media cycle  further inspiring the masses.  It’s easy to forget that  for most of Clementa Pinkney’s  career as a politician and public servant he was literally an enemy of  his state and a political foe diametrically opposed  to the overwhelming majority in his state legislature–many of which have eulogized him in the wake of his untimely demise. Are we really all to believe that the far right (and racist) leaning South Carolinian state legislature had an overnight revelation that that hateful racist flag that they and most of their constituency have in the distant and not so distant past publicly revered no longer sees as some innocuous ode to southern heritage? I’m sorry but my faith in the redemptive plausibility of my fellow countrymen (particularly below the Mason-Dixon line) is not that strong. The modern historical record is far too replete with instances like this whereby a black leader gets assassinated in the prime of their life fighting for what’s right. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were both murdered at age 39, Medgar Evers was killed at age 38. Clementa Pinkney lived to see the ripe old age of 41 before white supremacy silenced his voice. Unless you believe that it was mere coincidence that this uneducated aloof and borderline autistic misfit would have the wherewithal to first and foremost know who he was, (he specifically asked that he be identified) know his importance to the anti-racist struggle down south and moreover know his schedule there’es no logical explanation for why Dylan Roof would be privy to the personal schedule of any sitting senator devoid of some sort of collusion with at least one other party.

I don’t mean to be dismissive of the lives of Cynthia Hurd, DePayne  Middleton-Doctor, Ethel Lance, Myra Thompson,  Susie Jackson, Sharonda Singleton, Danial Simmons or Tywanza Sanders whose lives were every bit as precious as Clementa Pinckney’s, but their deaths in this massacre was collateral damage. The target was Pinkney and the murderous thug that they sent to do it said as much when he said that the people that he killed were so nice and warm that he almost could not go through with it. If this young misguided boy consumed with hate was acting on his own accord the love of Christ, the notion that love conquers hate [insert your favorite turn the other cheek cliche] would have actually worked as advertised and ballyhooed ad nausea by many Negroes alike. That tactic proved to be unsuccessful in reaching the minuscule yet malleable mind on a mission to commit dastardly deeds. The question(s) is who gave him this mission to carry out, why did they give it to him and what was/is the end goal. Is it really a race war as posited in the manifesto that he supposedly authored? Are we really crediting this kid with having that much foresight? Or was there a more esoteric sublime order from a higher placed source in state, local and/or federal government?

Dumb and dumber

Dylann Roof was both a high school dropout (9th grade) and a certified tea bagger. That combination would normally net some pretty egregious grammatical errors in a typical 147 character jibe so how he got through a 2,440 count scribe with all his subjects and verbs in  agreement and no misspellings is a surprising feat even if the late great Marva Collins or that woman that taught Helen Keller how to read and write were tag team tutoring him.

Lest we forget this is the typical verbiage of a high school drop out from a poor white bigoted town in the south :

Eglish

huge mistake

lier and cheif

So yeah, I’m calling bullshit on that manifesto being authored by Dylann Roof. I’m also calling bullshit on the website that features a bunch of pictures of the kid that were all seemingly taken in the same year, month or even week.

dylann 1

Dylann-Roof-Confederate-Flag

dylann 3

As you can see there’s no change or growth (in his face, body or bowl cut) in any of these photos that populated his website. It suggests to me that it was all put together in one instance. Was that instance to cover up a sinister conspiracy to kill a black leader and state senator? I’m inclined to believe so.

Flag under the bus

White southerners have a legitimate bone to pick with their state leadership and many of the conservative stalwarts that they have supported over the years for so easily acquiescing to that flag being taken down from the state capitol and the various other land marks that it proudly flies.  Don’t get me wrong I’m not a proponent of it being flown and I’m not above stomping on the flag while it’s down, but the stars and bars insignia that graced Dylann Roofs apparel had no more to do with the 9 lives that he ended on that fateful day at Emanuel A.M.E. Church than the stars and strips has to do with the countless men and women of color that get gunned down by American law enforcement whose apparel bears that symbol. The flag is too easily being made a scapegoat when there are much larger culprits at play. Removing the flag from the public space is all good. Such an eye sore is long overdue to be buried in the annals of history. However if this reactionary gesture gets construed as benevolence or anything greater than the insult being rescinded from atop the actual injury (that many still remain in denial of) we once again have been hoodwinked ;()

So I ask again in closing:  Who Killed Clementa Pinkney???

What did you mean by thug Mr President? : An Open letter to Barack Obama

Dear Mr. President,

As someone that voted for you both in 2008 & 2012, supported your campaigns financially, volunteered my time and even played key stroke warrior on your behalf when undue criticism ,insults and racist diatribes were lobbed at you and your family, I feel that I’ve earned the right to express how disappointed I am at what I see as one of the lowest moments of your presidency. At least as it portends to the uplift of African-Americans (particularly the most vulnerable) and the continued fight against white supremacy in America (particularly law enforcement).

Question(s) for you Mr President:

Did you call George Zimmerman a thug for stalking, attacking and then shooting dead that unarmed kid that you claimed would look so eerily similar to your son if you had one? How about Darren Wilson–did you call him a thug for shooting Mike Brown as he had his hands raised–the universal sign for surrender? Timothy Loehmann shot and killed 12 year old Tamir Rice within 2.5 seconds of arriving at a park where he innocently played with his TOY gun–was that not an act of thuggery? Did you call him a thug? Walter Scott was shot 5 times in the back by a thug in uniform that sits in a jail cell as we speak–did you label him a thug yet?

I get it, they are all law enforcement (minus the wannabe) and American law enforcement are sensitive creatures so for whatever reason you feel that you must coddle them so I will forgive (for the moment with a dash of sarcasm) your reluctance to call a spade a spade vis-a-vis law enforcement. What about the guy who stormed an elementary school and murdered in cold blood over 20 babies? Did you call Adam Lanza or any of the plethora mass shooters that thugged out on your watch thugs for any of their thuggery?

What is a thug in the first place?

   

Now that we have a baseline to work with in the form of definitive means, let’s examine exactly what you could have meant  by calling some of the poorest,most disaffected, and criminally mis-educated, boys from poorest end of one of the most impoverished cites in the country you lead a bunch of thugs. A thug is defined as a cruel or vicious ruffian, robber, or murderer. Now I know they were rioting and throwing rocks but they did not kill anyone, nor were they particularly cruel. In fact one of those thugs even had his mom greet and beat his ass all the way home. Now I’ve listened to a lot of rap music in my life and at least according to the hip-hop doctrine that ain’t how a thug goes out.

Is this what you call a thug Mr. President?

Let’s say for the sake of argument that your flippant use of the term to describe these provoked, misguided and rightfully angry youth was more a generalization for what they were doing at the time (rioting) and not part of the American racial codec. Every year you host the winner of the Stanley Cup at the White House and almost every year that that cup in won and loss there’s rioting in the streets of the city that one or both teams represent. I never ever saw you or anyone in your administration or the mainstream media call them thugs or petition the team owner from the winning team to talk sense into their unruly (for no damn reason) fan base. Like everyone else in America you picked Kentucky to win the NCAA championship this year. There was a bunch of college students  in Kentucky that took that loss way harder than you, I and most other Americans–funny how you nor anyone else in media labeled them thugs. What gives Mr. President? Why does black America get the Angry Obama Alter ego in real life concerning real issues and white America only gets to see that guy in a stand up routine talking about a bucket lists?

For someone who normally has his ear to the street and stays connected to the realities faced by many you sure let your radar down with that one reference. Either your code switching skills are slipping or there is at least a modicum of truth to the widely held belief propagated by many in the black community that you take our feelings, worth and even intelligence for granted. It’s not necessarily a belief that I subscribe to in fact I vehemently disagree with that notion. I’m still however having trouble wrapping my mind around why you called those boys a thugs and what exactly did you mean by it.

 Your employ of such a dubious term to describe the Baltimore youth that rebelled at YOUR (I stress your because you have yet to denounce them)  armed and shielded agent provocateurs better known as the BCPD (as well as the rest of them in America) was nothing short of heart breaking.  While the totality of what you said was fair-minded and empathetic your use of the word thug to describe those kids does a great disservice to them and most black men in America. It over shadowed much of the good things that you said.

Baltimore councilman Carl Stokes perfectly summarized what the media and other irresponsible handlers of the bully pulpit (yourself included) mean when they call those disadvantaged kids thugs.

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/embed/80773

Am I my brothers Keeper

In case the memo has not made its way to 1600 Penn, let me be the first to break the news to you that “Thug” is euphemistic speak for nigger–ask Richard Sherman, Marshawn Lynch and Fox News. Hell, you’ve been called a thug numerous times–how could you not know it’s contemporary meaning? The first black president codifying such racist code speak is akin to giving up on black youth. As much as your use of the term  thug disturbs me (and your lack of use of the word at other times) I know for a fact that that is not your aim so this letter is written with love. You established the My Brothers Keeper initiative and pledge to improve the lives and mitigate the hardships faced by black boys in urban America. One of the first steps in uplifting our black boys to manhood is to disabuse the notion that they are the embodiment of their worst acts–especially while mired in the doldrums of poverty.

My organization signed up to take your pledge. We are taking it very seriously and we aim to make a huge difference in the lives of some of Urban Americas least franchised. That would make us partners Mr President and as partners in this great and worthy endevor I hope you receive this letter of slight rebuke in love. Your words were disturbingly counter-productive. An apology and retraction of that very in-artful sound bite would be nice. A vow to never ascribe that term to the kind of kids that you did the other day would be even better. I’m not saying that you need to have a mock funeral for the word thug like that failed mock funeral they had for the word nigger a few years ago. We’d actually like to hear that word roll off your lips a little more often. First  it would be nice to hear you ascribe that term to cops that murder innocent unarmed individuals. Second and more importantly we’d like to hear you mention all of the good work that our organization is doing with the youth. THUGS Inc is the organization (Together Helping Unite Gods Sons) and we are our brothers keepers. The kids that you refereed to as thugs are actually sons of God. Help us help you help them.

Recap according to your words a logic

 

Thug

cop beats woman

Not a Thug

kid on cop car

Thug

Thugs not thugs

Not Thugs

  

Thugs

We gotta do better than this Mr President

Signed

T.H.U.G.S., Inc. Board of Directors

Shaka Berry, President

sberry@thugsinc.org

Stephanie N. Arrington, Treasurer

sarrington@thugsinc.org

Allen M. Graham, Founder

agraham@thugsinc.org

Carlton Ferguson, Co-Founder

cferguson@thugsinc.org

Diana Campbell

dcampbell@thugsinc.org

 

7 Reasons why Kwanzaa Is A Great Weapon In The fight Against Police Brutality

Washington Post reporter and MSNBC contributor Jonathan Capehart recently wrote a long winded nonsensical blog questioning attacking Kwanzaa, its merit and its worth to the  black community. The misguided missive was written under the guise of attacking a racist tea Party Congressman who he quotes in his piece as saying:

“Why must we still hear about Kwanzaa?…Why are hard-core left wingers still trying to talk about Kwanzaa — the supposed African-American holiday celebration between Christmas and New Year’s?”….Of course, almost no black people today care about Kwanzaa — just white left-wingers who try to shove this down black people’s throats in an effort to divide Americans,” ~ Tea Party Congressmen Glenn Grothman

Now this was said almost two years ago (January of 2013) by the incoming freshmen republican congressman while he was still in the Wisconsin state senate so I find it odd that Capehart would use this guys wayward musing as a spring board to express his own dislike for the “made up” holiday (as if all holidays are not made up) almost two whole years later. Capehart goes on to say:

“Kwanzaa-themed holiday cards elicited hard eye rolls from me and a few choice words delivered . When a well-meaning white friend sent me a Kwanzaa card a few years back, I was enraged for hours. A Christmas card would have done nicely. My disdain for the holiday runs so deep that when Kwanzaa was the answer in the game Heads Up, my clue was “made up black holiday!” My teammate answered the question without a nanosecond’s hesitation. The ensuing laughter can only be described as uncontrollable.” Jonathan Capehart

Now I don’t begrudge Mr. Capehart for eschewing  the Kwanzaa holiday in lieu of the more mainstream holidays that puts his bosses, BFF’s and  adversaries at ease. I have not celebrated it in a significant way since the late 90’s so it’s not at all one of those monolithic endeavors that would get your black card revoked if not adhered to. However as a black man working in the mainstream media it’s not a good look to be so overtly and needlessly dismissive of the cultural construct–it’s one of those opinions that he could and should have totally kept to himself. As a black man in mainstream media you should be duty bound to respect black culture–even aspects as obscure as the decades old Kwanzaa holiday. Especially when so many of its principals are so contemporaneously apropos. One could even argue that the 7 principals that comprise the holiday is the perfect panacea for the ongoing problem of police brutality and misconduct. It’s principals are the antithesis being a victim or a purveyor of violence.

1. Unity

Umoja (OO-MO-JAH) Unity stresses the importance of togetherness for the family and the community, which is reflected in the African saying, "I am We," or "I am because We are."

When Mike Brown was shot down in cold blood in broad daylight in August of 2014, in addition to claiming the life of an 18 year old college bound African-American, those bullets that recklessly exited Officer Darren Wilson’s gun sent out a clarion call to African-America. It was in and of itself a unifying call.  Umoja which is the first principal of Kwanzaa is all about unity and even though it was precipitated by a heinous act of hate, the spontaneous combustion that ensued gave rise to a movement. One that is focused, fortified and fearless. An American spring led by a black agenda with tangible demands. #blacklives matter is one of the central themes of the movement–now what’s more Kwanzaa than that?

2. Self-Determination

Kujichagulia (KOO-GEE-CHA-GOO-LEE-YAH) Self-Determination requires that we define our common interests and make decisions that are in the best interest of our family and community.

A lack in the self-determination has been a problem possessed by the black family ever since the first slave ships reached the shores of Jamestown VA, in 1619. Some 395 years later it still remains the crux of the problem as it pertains to full equality for the black family in America. Self-Determination, or Kujichagulia as it pertains to the current grass rooted protest is what has people like Pat Lynch and other notable and formerly respected voices speaking in such unhinged ways exposing to the world what community activists have long decried as an endemic and systemic culture of abuse and disregard for black life within the department.

“The mayor’s hands are literally dripping with our blood because of his words actions and policies and we have, for the first time in a number of years, become a ‘wartime’ police department. We will act accordingly.” ~Pat Lynch (Police Union Boss)
“The mayor’s hands are literally dripping with our blood because of his words actions and policies and we have, for the first time in a number of years, become a ‘wartime’ police department. We will act accordingly.” ~Pat Lynch (Police Union Boss)

Self-determination is not just putting your enemy on blast. It’s also respectfully telling your friends “no can do” just as these very same protesters that are being threatened with war did Mayor De Blasio upon his request that protest be halted until the two slain officers are buried. If the “benevolent” officers of NYC see fit to wear “I Can Breath” t-shirts as an affront to the protest and as a show of support for killer cops, than protesters should be able to continue the protests that have absolutely nothing to do with two slain officers.

One could never accuse NYPD of  being too sensitive (or bright).
One could never accuse NYPD of being too sensitive (or bright).

3. Collective Work And Responsibility

Ujima (OO-GEE-MAH) Collective Work and Responsibility reminds us of our obligation to the past, present and future, and that we have a role to play in the community, society, and world.

Ferguson clean up
The News Media is quick to show who rioted, looted and burned the place down, but they’re awfully slow to show you who was out there cleaning it up. If they show it at all.

Being that many of these protests, from Ferguson to NYC are carbon copies of protests from the past, the mere notion of people today petitioning their local, state and federal government for redress of long standing grievances indicates ones connection and more over ones understanding that we who protest in 2014 stand firmly on the shoulders of those that were fighting this same power in 1964. Ujima reminds us that we are part of a continuum. One that we too must pay forward with our blood, sweat, tears and even lives (for some).

ferguson-palestine-girl

One of the more heartwarming and crucial connections that were made during the tragedy that is the Town of Ferguson is the linkage to the Palestinian cause. The global  connection in addition to the parents and Mike Brown taking their grievance to the United Nations is the embodiment of this generations responsibility to the world. It’s also a reminder that white supremacy is the enemy and that enemy is global. It’s also what helped buoyed the respective movements pus

fergusonpalestine3

4. Cooperative Economics

Ujamaa (OO-JAH-MAH) Cooperative economics emphasizes our collective economic strength and encourages us to meet common needs through mutual support.

The 4th Kwanzaa principal is perhaps the crown jewel when it comes to principled protest. The power of the purse just as it did during the Montgomery Bus boycott has the power to move the previously immovable. When the call went out to boycott Black Friday a lot of black people balked. They rightfully logically surmised that a single day of abstaining from shopping will only net higher sales receipts the following days as Black Friday merely marked the beginning of the holiday shopping season. With that point duly noted many decided to sit out the entire 2014 Christmas shopping season. Black Friday sales were down about 11 percent and while I don’t know the exact figure overall, I do know that it’s down from last season. It’s not down in a mountain moving kind of way but this is just the beginning. Next year with a little more honing the holiday season boycott could be every bit as effective a weapon as the Montgomery Bus boycott which itself took well over 300 straight days of all manners of sacrifice to come to fruition as the game changer that it was. A sustained annual protest of Black Friday and the commercial Christmas holiday shopping season, if done in a unified manner could be the the most powerful weapon wielded collectively since Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man.

Mall die in

And here’s why: Many of the giant retailers like Target and Walmart  that siphon the expendable incomes of poor to upper middle class blacks are strategically located in or around these majority black communities. This means that black people, and black people primarily  have the ability to stop many of these stores bottom lines from ever getting out of the red and into the black. That’s a pretty powerful thing to do. It’s one hell of a statement to make. Especially since both Walmart and Target are already in the legislative game. Often times to the peril of many of their shoppers so there really is a direct correlation and leaning on them as a political strategy is actually the logical thing to do. The American Legislative Council (ALEC) is an organization of corporate conglomerates that lobbies congress and state houses across the nation for laws and bills most favorable to their respective bottom lines. One of the more nefarious bills successfully lobbied for and implemented around the country is the Stand Your Ground law. You don’t need me to remind you of how bad such a law is for black people. However you might want to remind Walmart that #blacklivesmatter.

The money saved from being spent with these major corporate conglomerates could and should be spent with black and small neighborhood businesses so that the dollars you spend actually have a chance to contribute to the growth of your community.

5. Purpose

Nia (NEE-YAH) Purpose encourages us to look within ourselves and to set personal goals that are beneficial to the community.

Protests must have principal and in order to find principal in protest one must establish purpose. Truth be told their has been a purpose for organized protest for many centuries now. Along the way we have been side tracked and distracted but thanks to people like George Zimmerman, Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo we will never forget our purpose.

6. Creativity

Kuumba (KOO-OOM-BAH) Creativity makes use of our creative energies to build and maintain a strong and vibrant community.

The creative energies out in the street in mass protest are undeniable. From the chants of “No Justice, no Peace, no racist police”, to the creative and thought provoking signs and internet memes that makes mockery of our nations failed justice system. The rush hour traffic shut downs, the mall protests and die-ins are all examples of the creative forces bringing about much needed change. The creative ways in which these protests are agitating the populace is keeping the protests at least one step ahead of the police and moreover forcing the mainstream media who has for years been adept at ignoring or outright misrepresenting black pain into actually covering it. So much so that the fight against police brutality has been voted the biggest story of 2014. It only took about 400 years…

7. Faith

Imani (EE-MAH-NEE) Faith focuses on honoring the best of our traditions, draws upon the best in ourselves, and helps us strive for a higher level of life for humankind, by affirming our self-worth and confidence in our ability to succeed and triumph in righteous struggle.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the current pathology that engulfs black people today and come away discouraged. Devoid of a long view that employs nuance of thought it’s completely logical to come away with a rather pessimistic view for the future. It’s even easier to come away with the opinion that these protests are a waste of time and energy and will yield zero gains. Such primordial  misunderstanding is understandable but no longer acceptable. No longer can we rely on short views of historical problems. No more vacuous conversations that at best can only come up with linear solutions to holistic problems. Imani does mean faith, but it ain’t the kind of faith that you learned about in Sunday school. It’s not blind faith. It’s an open up your damn eyes and look what’s going on (and has been going on) kind of faith.  Once that kind of perspective is gained it is  rarely lost. It is more often than not spread.

In summation

In summation the sum total of the 7 day celebration is one that runs parallel to the mission at hand, so why not partake? It’s not a religious holiday, nor does it conflict with the Christmas holiday. And since Santa Clause has next to nothing to do with Baby Jesus in the manger it even makes sense to do your gift giving AFTER the 25th. It also makes very sound personal economic sense since pretty much everything that you purchase will be discounted to the tune of 70 percent o better.

Think about it….