#blacklivesmatter – The Angry Black Rant

I ain’t Mad At’Cha Bro: Open letter to Ryan Lochte

Dear Ryan,

You been taking a lot of heat for your recent shenanigans in Rio but I wanted you to know that this angry black guy is not the least bit mad at you bro. In fact I kind of appreciate you and the rest of the bros going to Brazil and doing your bro thing. You really showed them what ~~America~~ white America is all about. You should be in the Broham Hall of fame for what you did before and after that encounter with that Brazilian gas station bathroom (that had the audacity to be closed when the bros needed it most) was more ~~American~~ White American than eating apple pie during the seventh inning stretch of a Boston Red Sox vs New Yankees game while some C-list celebrity sings Take me out to the Ball game (followed by God bless America).

Seriously bro–you dudes were on some certified American exceptionalism type shit and I applaud your high level of keeping it realness. Now you may think I’m being facetious for applauding you for keeping in real when it is crystal clear that you were lying through your Speedos when you claimed that you were robbed by some locals in Brazil but lets be real– You are not the first white dude that blamed a crime on some phantom colored person to escape the wrath of a society that sometimes forgets that with privilege comes an opt out clause when it comes to accountability. Their fault not yours bro, because this practice of evading responsibility for ones acts or inventing facts to coincide with a specific narrative is as old as the America (s)that Christopher Columbus “discovered”. I mean did Brain Williams & Hillary Clinton really come under sniper fire as they publicly claimed? All indications are they both lied– or as your boy Billy Bush would say embellished when speaking on their dalliances with war zones.

Brian is still passed off as one of the most trusted names in media and Hillary barring a catastrophic upset from an even more duplicitous white American is on her way to becoming the first female president of these United states. So why should you apologize for simply being a typical American white male with access to fame and fortune? And who is Al Roker to judge you? He of all people should understand that you were well within your rights to trash a bathroom in Brazil for not being open when you needed it; lie about the facts of the case before fleeing the country without giving your fellow bros a heads up. I mean they’re good ole American white boys too–not your fault that they were slow to play their white privilege card. Speaking of Al Roker word on the street (actually word from the NY Post) is that he was reprimanded for his public rebuke of yourself so ignore that brother–he obviously does not get the fact that you are a white dude fully cloaked in and protected by the umbrella of white supremacy/white privilege and that even though Tamir Rice (12), Trayvon Martin (17) and Mike Brown (18) were all considered men by the mainstream media that reported their justified murders, at 32 and in a third world nation full of scary brown people you and the bros are still just kids doing what kids do. And while Ralph Lauren and a few other sponsors dropped you for your “youthful” indiscretions thankfully Dancing with the Stars still honors your privilege card. So ignore all of the naysayers that say that you embarrassed America over in Brazil. You did not embarrass America you showed them the true America. Your actions in Brazil and subsequent non-plausible denials was the best representation of America put on display in the Olympics. At least the most accurate representation. Sure there was a whole lot of #blackgirlmagic on display over the course of the last few weeks in Rio but…

…none of the precious medal winning performances by Allyson Felix (track & field), Brianna Rollins (track & field) Claressa Shields (boxing), Gabby Douglas (gymnastics) Daliliah Muhammad (track & field), Kristi Castlin (track & field), Nia Ali (track & field) Michelle Carter (shot put) Ibtihaj Muhammad (fencing), Simone Biles (gymnastics) or Simone Manuel (swimming) at the end of the day matter. They do not hail from or represent the America that you do bro. You represent exactly what the median white id looks like. The Ryan Locthe ethose is what ~~America~~ Murica is made of. You are what all lives and blue lives matter is made of. You are who both Donald Trump and Hillary for that matter represent. You are America bro. And I ain’t mad at you one bit!

Signed,

The Angry Black guy (but not at you bro)

PS Al Roker keep on stirring your drink bruh. I get what you really mean to say 😉

Chess > Checkers: The case for the 3rd party black vote

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Chess is a thinking persons game. It’s a long game–one in which you have to see past your next several moves in order to stay ahead and eventually win. Politics just like chess is a long game and one that if it is to be played to win must involve an actual strategy. Voting for the lesser of two evils is not a strategy–not even in checkers. So in this political game of chess how are we going to ever win if we keep on employing a strategy that’s not even helpful in a lesser game?

It’s high time we abandon the failed strategies of the past and disabuse the kind of expedient measures that continue to net undesirable results. It really is okay to NOT be with her OR him.

A vote for Jill Stein knowing that she stands no chance of winning is not just an emotional response from progressive minded voters disenchanted with the Clinton Machine and the dubious at best democratic primary process. It’s also a strategy. It’s far from a guaranteed strategy that will immediately pay dividends but if played correctly it’s a low risk high reward (even if it’s down the road) strategy that will only strengthen our collective hand in future elections and more importantly empower future generations that will be able to build on the strategic moves that we have in our power to make.

If you live in a deep red state like Alabama or Arkansas theoretically you’re throwing your vote away by voting for anyone but Trump because nobody not named Donald J Trump is going to win those two states and other similar states where Neanderthals comprise the median voting demographic. Similarly If you vote in a deep blue state like Connecticut, Maryland or Vermont you can as well afford to make more of a statement with a third party vote because if you vote for the only candidate that’s gonna win those respective states (Hillary) the exit polls will serve as consent for every policy initiative that comes across her desk. Good, bad, ugly and down right evil .
Elections today are 24/7/365 so the minute Hillary takes the oath of office she will be campaigning for 2020. If her internal pollsters find that the overwhelming majority of people in America who are not certified coons, jack asses or bigots (the typical Trump constituent) approve of not only her hawkish proclivities but also her her neo-liberal agenda guess what? It will be full steam ahead with the enactment of them. That is not winning. If on the other hand those exit polls reflect a sizable portion of the reliably democratic electorate that remains averse to her brand of politic she would be forced legislatively to the left in the same manner in which the Bernie Sanders run forced her campaign style to the left.

I get the fear of a Trump presidency. I’m in no way suggesting that everyone gamble on a Green party political novice to risk giving the white house to the greater evil (on paper and public perception wise). What I am suggesting is that you make your vote really count. As black people we are the most solid monolithic voting black in America yet we remain the most under represented sub groups in the country. That is primarily because we are not strategic in our voting or thinking.

We need and deserve a #blacklivesmatter approved candidate. They don’t necessarily have to be black but their policy positions and worldview needs to be aligned with the movement. The only way that we are ever going to see such a candidate like that see a viable route to a nomination is if we demand it. As a people we cannot throw 85 -90 percent of our vote to Hillary Clinton. That will in no way make her a better president and more importantly it will in no way improve the state of Black America. If you live in Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Nevada or any other swing state by all means–be with her! Vote for Hillary. But if you live in the south where Hillary stands no chance it is not a gamble to vote third party. If you live in a deep blue state there is no harm in not allowing her to run up the numbers on Trump. At the end of the day it is not about him so much as it is about keeping him out of office–but that can’t be the only goal and if it remains the only goal at best we are at a stalemate. At worst and more probable we lose.

5 Reasons why we should bury the term GOAT along with the GOAT (Muhammad Ali)

As we say goodbye to the greatest for good we should also say goodbye for good to the term GOAT (save for conversations about Ali). Muhammad Ali embodied the term and it’s less than respectful to his legacy to bestow such a hollowed moniker on any other athlete or entertainer–especially those who have done little outside of their master craft to measure up to what the champ did outside of his day job. So in honor of the GOAT’s passing here are five (of many) reasons why no one should ever be refereed to as the greatest of all time ever again…

1. He created the term

On February 25, 1964 after the artist formally known as Cassius Clay stopped the heavily favored Sonny Liston in seven rounds he took to ring center and proclaimed that he was the greatest and that he shook up the world. Little did anyone know that this young brash 22 year old was not just smack talking and would go on to embody both the term “I Am the greatest” and the act of shaking up a world in need of shaking. Ali through the years had trials and tribulations that put to test his greatness and at every turn he would remind friend and foe alike that he was indeed the greatest of all time. You will be hard pressed to find an utterance of that verbatim prior to Ali saying so. Therefore he’s the standard bearer of what the GOAT should look, sound and act like.

2. His convictions were not compromised by public opinion, monetary gain or even peer pressure from his contemporaries

Muhammad Ali’s refusal to be drafted into the Army during the Vietnam war and the revocation of his title for it is well chronicled. One of the more poignant photos from that period of his life is the one where he is surrounded by some of his contemporary greats including Bill Russell, Jim Brown and Lew Alcinder. The misconception is that they were there to support Ali and his defiant stance against the war. The truth is they were actually there to do the opposite. The private meeting was to convince him to enlist and to assure him that he would not be going to war but instead would serve as an ambassador to it and a morale booster to the troops in much the same way that Joe Louis was used during World War II. Ali who was far less educated than all of the men in attendance (in a formal sense) had a rebuttal for each and every point they brought up. He went on an almost two hour filibuster going into great detail why he would not be supporting the Vietnam war or enlisting. He won over the well meaning yet naive greats and forced them to reexamine their tacit support of the war. So much so that Lew Alcindor followed the path of Cassius Clay and retired his slave name a couple years later.

3. Ali Spoke truth to power instead of seceding to the powers that be.

There has never been an athlete before or since Muhammad Ali that has had the courage to speak truth to power. He did not shrink, bow or take a back seat to white supremacy. He confronted the white supremacist construct with as much confidence and zeal as he confronted his opponents in the ring. His defiant stance in media gave a nation (within a larger more hostile nation) of millions courage and pride. It inspired protest and affirmed the fact that we as a people are great. He was not worried about endorsement dollars. In fact he knew that it would be more lucrative for him to go along to get along just as pretty much every athlete today does but he remained steadfast and fearless.

4. He was not trans-racial and did not transcend race. He was unapologetically Black.

Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, and Jesse Owens were phenomenal athletes that paved the way for Muhammad and others to thrive in the sports arena. By extension they paved the way for black people to more equitably integrate in to all levels of sports, entertainment, business and academia because they humanized blacks in the minds of millions of white Americans that saw (and treated us) as less than. Jackie, Joe, and Jesse were not a black mans black man though. At least not publicly. They were the white mans black men and while I completely understand the precarious line that they had to walk they lacked the intestinal fortitude of Muhammad Ali who made the conscious decision to be the black mans black man. Before him on the national sports scene there was none and sadly no such an athlete has come after him. Muhammad Ali’s embrace of his blackness was so real and so authentic that white people loved and respected him for it (the ones that did not hate him for it).

Michael Jordan is widely considered the GOAT in basketballcentric conversations. However he was as bad off the court about being a strong black man that took strong black stances as he was good at dominating the league over the span of his playing career. Michael Jordan was arguably a greater basketball player on the court than Ali was a boxer in the ring but his sheer cowardice as it pertained being a black mans black man exempts him from legitimately holding the GOAT title. Micheal Jordan was famously asked in 1990 to endorse a black man running for the US Senate by the name of Harvey Gantt. Gantt at the time was trying to unseat one of the most rabidly racist and regressive US Senators since reconstruction by the name of Jesse Helms (NC). Michael Jordan’s response to the endorsement request was “Republicans buy sneakers too”. MJ was the closest athlete to reaching the world wide recognition as Ali. Black America could have really used from MJ in the 80’s and 90’s the kind of unapologetic blackness that Ali gave to black America during his prime. He chose to do the opposite therefore he’s much closer to being a goat than the GOAT.

5. He is the father of rap music and by extension the hip-hop culture

DJ Kool Herc is the father of hip-hop. Muhammad Ali however is the father of rap. The only thing missing from the punch lines, similes and analogies inherent in his prophetic and poetic proclamations were bars and hooks. The precocious and braggadocios rhymes that Ali spit was primordial hip-hop. In fact it was hip-hop (LL Cool Jay) that actually coined the acronym GOAT. And while LL is not the GOAT he is Ali. Jay Z is Ali, Ice Cube is Ali. Scar Face is Ali.Biggie was Ali, Tupac was Ali. Fuck being like Mike, Be like Ali. The one and ONLY GOAT.

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

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!

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…

…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.

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.

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.
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
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

~ 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

~ 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…

…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

~ 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

~ 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

~ 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

…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

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

~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

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

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

Charles Barkely

Don Lemon

Stephen A. Smith

Taye Diggs

Anthony Mackie

Stacy Dash

Juan Williams

Niger Innis

Tommy Sotomayor

Wayne Bradley

#BlackLoveMatters

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.

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.

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 :

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.

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???

Memo From Facebook Jail: The Four Fucks That I had to give last week but could not because I was banned for some bullshit

Those that know me and even those that briefly meet my acquaintance know me to be a pretty fuckless kind of dude. Generally speaking I have far less fucks to give about the mundane minutia that comprises American media and pop culture tabloid gossip than the average blue blooded American or urban dweller so when I logged on and hit the ‘like’ button for a high-minded status that came across my timeline and was met by the following automated message: my most immediate reaction was “fuck them, I don’t give a fuck. I still got Twitter, Instagram and Black Planet”. I said that to myself of course because at this point the only means of communication on Facebook I have is the inbox. I guess that’s their way of allowing me conjugal visits.

Then a few days went by and I realized that I had more fucks to give than I led myself to believe. In lieu of this most humbling revelation and to get back at Mark Zuckerbergs censorship warriors I figured I’d share a few of the fucks that I had to give this week but could not because my habitual fuck free ways landed me in Facebook jail (again).

Fuck-2-give #1: The Xenophobic out break of Violence that has South African blacks attacking, maiming and murdering fellow African migrants from across the continent.

Giving too much of a fuck about this issue is actually what landed me in Facebook jail in this time around. I posted a graphic and disturbing video of black South Africans burning alive two young Africans boys that have migrated there from other parts of the continent along with some unflattering yet innocuous commentary about these innocent young boys tormentors. I’ve had far more offensive musings and diatribes on Facebook that have flown far below the FB Polices radar, at least not to the point where I was banned. Hemming me up for this one is sort of like getting hemmed up for driving while black–or even worse, running while black after committing the cardinal sin of making eye contact with an officer (more on that later).

As it pertains to the issue itself (the xenophobic violence) it’s a much more complex phenomenon than most people (self included) can see with the kind of naked-eyed purview afforded to those of us outside the continent of Africa–so much so that even calling what’s taking place in South Africa xenophobia is sort of misleading. It only tells part of the story.

I was discussing this issue with a co-worker from Uganda (because when you don’t have Facebook you have to actually talk to people) and he conveyed to me a better understanding of the unfortunate conflict. The acts of violence in the name of faux black South African nationalism is one of the reverberating forces of Apartheid South Africa. To discuss this issue devoid of a primordial understanding is to engage in vacuous and more over frivolous banter. So in that respect the post needed to be deleted because unbeknownst to me and my initial commentary on this matter, the ghosts of PW Botha and FW de Klerk are far more operative in the ongoing violence than the severely misguided and uneducated people committing the violence. A nation of fools and babies is what is left of native black South Africa post Apartheid. It’s one of the reasons why Nelson Mandela’s rise from prison to the presidency to this day is seen as a mixed bag. Sure there was progress, but it’s underwhelming and microscopic progress.

The crux of the problem is there are very few levers in South African society to uplift the black masses in a majority black nation. Therefore all of the skilled and even non-skilled work goes to the migrant workers (the jobs that are not held by the white minority Afrikana) while the natives wallow in the extreme poverty and ignorance that Apartheid, global white supremacy and the failings of the ANC have birthed into existence. Or rather failed to mitigate. I’m afraid that there is no easy solution to this very complex problem. Much like the myriad problems that beset African-Americans state side. One could go so far to say that the issues that black people in america face are a microcosm of what’s happening across the continent of Africa. I digress…

Fuck-2-give #2: Floyd Mayweather proclaims that he is better than Muhammad Ali was I know, I know. For someone who claims to have less fucks to give than the average this is sort of a frivolous fuck to be giving, right? This fact notwithstanding after a week of being regulated and relegated to strictly being a Facebook lurker I’ve seen this conversation cross my timeline too many times for me not to want to add my two cents to the potluck. Mainly because Ali is both my boyhood and adulthood idol–more so than any man or women to have walked the earth before or after him. That being said Ali’s legacy in the ring is not what earned him the universally recognized moniker “The Greatest”. It may have been his own claim to fame while a young, spry and talkative fighter (much like Floyd today) but What earned him the Title of The Greatest was his heart and mind outside of the ring. Since no sane or thinking individual would confuse Mayweathers heart and mind with Ali’s heart and mind it’s most obvious that Floyd was speaking about being a better fighter inside the ring and there’s very little evidence to disprove his assertion. Floyd like him or not is pound for pound the greatest fighter in most of our lifetimes. He leaves a lot to be desired outside of the ring, but that does not trump his lofty accomplishments on his day job.

Fuck-2-give #3: The most intellectually stimulating hip-hop beef of all time: Michael Eric Dyson Ethers Cornell West

If you gave even half of a fuck about the classic rap battles that have taken place in the annals of hip-hop history like Biggie Smalls vs 2Pac, Jay Z vs Nas, MC Shane vs LL Cool J, LL Cool J vs Kool Moe Dee, Roxanne Shante vs UTFO, The Real Roxanne vs UTFO, Sparky D vs Roxanne and plethora of other lyrical jousts then how can you not love the classic take down of Cornell west by Emcee Michael Eric Dyson in his New Republic article The Ghost of Cornell West (long but a worthwhile read). In light of Dyson’s very public take down of his mentor turned adversary he’s been catching a lot of heat from many in the activist community for taking to task a man who purports to be a stalwart of truth, justice, equality and all things intellectually honest. Many are saying that the salvo lobbed by him at his former mentor was untoward, unwarranted and unbecoming of a black leader–especially in the era of #blacklivesmatter. I wholeheartedly and most vehemently disagree–for several reasons. First and foremost it was West that started the beef. Due to my cyber incarceration I was unable to remind some of the Cornell West sympathizers that crossed my time line of some of Wests innuendos and straight shots at Dyson and every other black figure that he formerly respected until they failed to follow his lead in opposing all things Obama.

The back story…

Cornell West and Tavis Smiley after not getting enough traction, support, and bunk mates for their attention whoring “poverty tour” from his friends in black academia that have a wider and much more diverse media perch took constant shots at Al Sharpton, Melissa Harris Perry and Micheal Dyson. Much of their thinly veiled insults (and not so thinly veiled) went un

“And we saw of course the coronation of the bona fide house Negro of the Obama plantation, our dear brother Al Sharpton supported by the Michael Dyson’s and others who’ve really prostituted themselves intellectually in a very ugly and vicious way” in exchange for access to the White House.~ Mad Rapper C-West

Micheal Eric Dyson then countered with this:

“I’ve probably known him longer than anybody on this panel. Hung out with him,” Dyson said. “I’ve been a victim of his vicious assaults in public. I’ve held my powder. That ain’t my usual nature. … I’m not going to pretend that it doesn’t hurt for you to call me a sellout because I disagree with you. You can be ‘ride-or-die,’ but while you’re riding—see who your vehicle is rolling over. I’m not mad at principled critique, but you still could be wrong. But when you start indicting my soul like I’ve given my soul over to Obama or the devil — now you’re tripping. You ain’t that important. You’re not God to be able to leverage the divine assignment of privilege or punishment.~ Emcee Mikey Dee

This was last year and in between that time these two venerable leaders lobbed jabs back and forth but it was Dyson’s latest 10,000 word take down that took the beef to a higher level and what I suspect it’s finale. Based on Cornell Wests much humbler retort to the article using the most layman mediums on earth (Facebook):

But it was all good just a week ago when he was calling folks house negros for not co-signing his ODS (Obama Derangement Syndrom). Calling a black man a house nigger or coon is a very serious charge if in fact he’s not a house nigger or coon (something that’s never been associated with his ethos). Sounds like a mea culpa to me. It’s either that or the old man has amnesia. Either way this beef is much more 50 Cent vs Ja Rule than Jay vs Nas because I have a funny feeling that long winded status update by the Wiley and Whooly Nutty Profesor was his round about way of saying “No Mas”. Advantage Dyson.

Fuck-2- give #4 (the final fuck): The Murder of Freddie Gray by Baltimore City Police, the subsequent protests and the continued culture of police corruption and abuse of authority in American law enforcement.

While this is one of those issues and causes that I have limitless fucks to invest in I’m sick and tired of what seems like a weekly deposit of fucks to some unknown brother guilty of something petty or less being executed by an overzealous cop looking for a few weeks off and some Go Fund Me dollars.

With all that’s taken place this past week I don’t even know where to begin. So many layers to this story alone. Let alone the fact that it’s a continuum of a long standing threat to black life on American soil since at least 1619. There’s still a uniqueness to this latest episode of a black man guilty of being human having some beat cop who’s from outside of his community play prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner all in a matter of minutes. I can go on for days lamenting and angry black ranting about what’s taking place in Baltimore but I’m sure you have better things to do today than to read a weeks worth of my backed up angry thoughts on an issue that has reached a critical mass for so many. So in the interest of your time I will make two brief points.

Mayor Rawlings ain’t shit and she needs to go. It’s time for real leadership in Baltimore and now that ground zero for civic protest and redress of serious long standing grievances from the community about the occupying police forces has moved to Baltimore it’s high time the cities cream rise to the ashes to assume stewardship. Note to Baltimorians: Your leader is somewhere in the crowd.
The sytem needs a diet. Ice Cube once said that riots ain’t nothing but diets for the system. Rioting, looting and anarchist behavior in large crowds are precursors for movements. They literally represent the entire affected community reaching the critical mass (when it’s not a bunch of white college kids bemoaning or celebrating an NCAA win or loss. The critical mass brought everyone out to the streets. The normally civic minded folks met up in the same square as the apathetic and happy go lucky. They were joined by the destitute, down trodden and the criminally under-educated class (known even to the voiceless black folks as thugs).So what a few windows got broken and some goods were looted. How many unarmed people were killed in these riots again? My point is that this sort of salad bar style of spotaneus combustion is the same incidental energy that formed the Black Panther Party (the original, not them new niggas).

The rest of my forgotten fucks that pertain to this issue have more to do with some of the things that I would have said on some of the links, statuses, memes that crossed my timeline.

Would have said if I could have said…

no need to speculate on what I would have said to her because this former co-worker (and facebook friend) has never met a police shooting of an unrmed black man that she felt compelled to speak on until she felt the need to warn her freinds attending an O’s game of the possible perils of protest. I had to imbox her my displeasure with her wayward commetary amd priorities.

The petulance repelete in this arrest report would have left me speechless. SMH is all that i would have to offer on that one.

This one had me beating my chest while saying “my nigga” in my best Denzel voice.

This scenario calls for the Reginald Denny treatment. I will leave it at that.

Note to white peolple: If you are not for us in the fight against police brutality than you are against us.

Other random Facebook ish that I would have liked, commented on or responded to last week (hence a sliver of a fucketh given)

Yeazzy taught him well. Yeazzy taught him well.

Facebook even felt the need to remind me past comments of mine that they have deleted. Apparently calling a coon a coon is an erasable offense.

This comment was erased from Coon Tommy Sotomeyers page after ome of his fans took unbrage with me calling that spade a spade.

not even sure who the coon was that was the object of my scorn or when I said it.

I even had my own cop stop that being censored prevented me from chronicling in contemporaneous fashion.

while driving Ms. Daisy aka Katyna back from a co-ed baby shower in Detroit i was clocked by State Trooper Vann D (badge number LP2595) doing 88 in a 60. While he did give me the ticket that i rightfully earned he purposely wrote it in a manner that netted zero points on my license. He credited me with being in a 70-75 MHP zone instead of the 60MPH zone that I was clocked and stopped in.

All in all being banned from posting for a week was not so bad but I’m glad to be back.

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