Is the Blogosphere Still Alive?

Good morning!

It's been about 6 years since I last posted something. If you're still following my blog, let me know! I've been quite busy during the past several years.

I'll post something more formal later.

CHANGE ATLANTA Betrays Brandon White! Victim Blaming by ANY other name is the SAME

Hello friends,

I'll keep this post concise and because I have allowed my anger and rage to wane, I can put together a post without resorting to using expletives.

In recent days CHANGE ATLANTA has engaged in the disgusting act of victim blaming. Many of you may recall that CHANGE ATLANTA was supposed to be advocating for Brandon White, the victim of a videotaped hate crime/gay bashing that went viral. Instead of supporting Brandon White, CHANGE ATLANTA has hosted press conferences, forums, and meetings supporting the defendants charged in the beating and hate crime of Brandon White. CHANGE ATLANTA members Devin Barrington Ward, Terik Jackson, and Gary Avery Nichols have gone so far as to meet with the co-defendants attorneys, made on the record statements, and have repudiated Brandon White, the VICTIM of videotaped hate crime.

CHANGE ATLANTA'S reasoning behind smearing the reputation of Brandon White? That he KNEW his ATTACKERS so that makes beating the hell out of him not just okay, but definitely not a hate crime. I am not going to post the video here, but you can google it and see it for yourself. Brandon White was assaulted and they called him a FAGGOT several times during the assault. There has never been a more clear cut case of violence motivated by prejudice. Even if Brandon knew his attackers it does not justify the attack. In fact, most victims of violent crimes are attacked by people they know.

 CHANGE Atlanta's shameless showbiz activism has done absolutely NOTHING but further the celebrity of CHANGE ATLANTA members. In fact, CHANGE ATLANTA members Ward, Jackson, and Nichols have used local media outlets to engage in the worst sort of victim blaming ever. Regardless of what you think of gay people, Brandon White, or even the defendants, the fact remains that Brandon White was brutally attacked by 3 men on February 4, 2012. As Brandon was being attacked, the men charged with beating Brandon called him FAGGOT several times. They went on record displaying their chagrin and hatred for all LGBT people - not just Brandon.

What CHANGE ATLANTA has done is reckless and counterproductive. Their actions have demonstrated that they are no friend of the LGBT community. CHANGE ATLANTA's fundamentally flawed judgment is emblematic of a pervasive attitude of supporting criminals over victims - something that happens too often in the black community. Devin Barrington Ward, Terik Jackson, and Gary Avery Nichols should all be ashamed of themselves for the irreparable harm they are doing to the LGBT community, not to mention Brandon White.

I Stand With Brandon White. You should too.

Brandon White - The Black Gay Man Whose ATL Bashing was Recorded and Placed on Youtube Speaks

Thoughts on Roland Martin and the Normalization and Acceptance of Homophobia in the Black Community

I was going to write a post about the significance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, but recent acts of grotesque and unprovoked violence against my LGBT brothers and sisters has provided a necessary distraction, which compels me to write about them now.

By now, many of you should be aware that "journalist" Roland S. Martin has come under fire for comments he tweeted from his personal account during the Super Bowl. Nothing out of the ordinary as twitter provides a digital venue for outbursts to real life events in real - time. Where Roland gets messed up is in what he tweets. Apparently David Beckham is hocking a new underwear line and Roland was offended by his commercial which aired during the Super Bowl. I can only surmise that Roland's pudgy ass was angry because he probably can't fit any of the underwear that Beckham is selling, not to mention, who the hell would want to see Roland's greasy ass in drawls ANYWAY?

Anyhoo, Roland tweeted that any man who actually liked Beckham's ad should have the shit slapped out of him. Now ordinarily, I wouldn't have a problem with anything he tweets because I just don't consider Roland very smart or even a journalist for that matter. However, I take umbrage with his comment because regardless of his intent, he is inciting violence against a segment of humanity that already experiences a great amount of accepted and tolerated violence because of their marginalization by the heterosexual/heteronormative majority. The LGBT community, despite making great strides towards social acceptance among the heterosexual majority, are still widely viewed as aberrations to societal norms and as a result, when we are victims of violent crimes, instead of criticizing the perpetrators, our community is blamed for unprovoked attacks. We are often left to fend for ourselves and witnesses to attacks on our person pass over us, seldom offer assistance or rescue us, and we are often treated by law enforcement as having done something to justify such attacks.

Whatever the attack, up to and including murder, LGBT people are left wringing our hands wondering why society turns its backs on us when we are the same as our heterosexual community members, we just defer by the way we define our sexual orientation, gender identity, and relationships. Sorry for the digression; getting back to Roland and the impetus for this post.

Within different communities are different interpretations of masculinity. I won't get into how these constructs have been developed because that would be an entirely different post on a topic that deserves more in-depth analysis than a long ass blog post. Instead, I'll focus my energies on why Roland's tweet is a problem and how his contrived version of black masculinity places every black person who is LGBT and chooses to live within predominantly black areas are in danger for their mortal lives. Yes, you read that correctly. I do not believe that black communities are safe for Black LGBT people and whether you choose to agree or not is your issue - not mine. Please don't contaminate my comment thread with your inexcusable hatred and I do not care to hear about your devotion to Christ, Allah, or whomever else you choose to blame your hatred on. The facts are what they are and the evidence is incontrovertible.

Black masculinity is something that I rarely ever discuss and hardly ever write about  because its origin is rooted in a construct derived from white masculinity where men seek to dominate everything in order to control it. There is no peaceful co-existence with anyone or anything that isn't understood by that construct. It is typified by confrontation by violence to control. It accepts oppression of all people who do not fit the finite script of what being a man is "supposed" to be. It is typically derived from the bastardization of religious theology and is often relegated to a norm that has no justification. How this manifests itself in the black community has been largely pathogenic. Black men, "REAL" black men are supposed to be virile, well-endowed, sexually superior, and revered for nothing more than brute strength, big dicks, and a non emotional existence. Coupled with the advent of so called hip-hop culture, and the proliferation of gangs in inner cities, Black masculinity is now another bastardization of a bastard culture. Destiny's Child Beyonce wanted a soldier - "If your status ain't HOOD, I ain't checkin' for ya... Gotta be STREET if you're looking for me" and there are multiple examples of the introduction of thug life as an accepted and in many cases preferred expression of black masculinity. Any deviation from these constructs renders the black men who fall outside them as weak. When you add homosexuality to the mix you get a full onslaught of condemnation and you are viewed as an enemy to blackness.

I won't be getting to deep into the discrimination and homophobia that black LGBT people face at the hands of the Black Church (and the Nation of Islam, etc). However, one can reasonably presume that the moralism and legalism that's a part of the theology of the black church experience is often appropriated by the black community in general - one that permits discrimination against black LGBT people.

THIS is where Roland should have minded his tongue. The self professed husband of a Baptist minister, who is a proponent of the ex-gay movement, who believes that gay people are inherently sinful, and who has counseled them to become "un-gay", and has a public forum, who is followed by thousands of people, who also advocates slapping the shit out of men who are attracted to men is a PROBLEM! What if one of Roland's fans decides to take Roland's advice literally? And how does a self-professed "christian" advocate slapping people without provocation? I'm rambling now, but when the urge hits me, I'll get back to this.

What I do know is that the normalization for hatred of gay people plays out in the black community everyday. In Washington, DC a 23 year old transgendered woman was stabbed to death for waiting at a bus stop. She died of her injuries that day. In Atlanta, GA a young gay man or young man who was perceived as gay was severely beaten by three black men, during broad daylight, and in front of several witness and onlookers. They taunted him and called him a faggot, making it clear that they targeted him based on their perception of his sexual orientation.  The video of that beating was posted on WorldStar  and not only did the urban terrorists who attacked the man video tape their exploits, they laughed and joked as they did it. Several black men in the immediate vicinity of the fight looked on, laughed, and did nothing. I'll bet money that those same men also said nothing to the police and are engaging in another destructive manifestation or inner city black culture - no snitching.

So how do we move forward? I'm not necessarily sure how that should happen, but for starters I think Roland should be fired immediately. I'll continue this post when the mood strikes me to do so. Unfortunately, given the generalize depravity and lack of respect that black LGBT people get from the black community, something tells me I'll be writing again very soon. In the meantime, I wish my black LGBT brothers and sisters well. I want to tell that it gets better, but when the community that we are supposed to be a part of makes it clear that they hate us - don't expect things to get better anytime soon.

Other reads: Atlanta Project Q

UPDATE: FBI Joins APD in pursuit of Federal Hate Crimes Charges

HAZING: Is your life worth the price of belonging? Cross post of some insightful comments

I was over at TheRoot reading a post about a 26 year old FAMU student who was a member of the school's famous Marching 100 band. He died a couple of weeks ago, amid speculation that he was put through a series of barabric Hazing rituals. Rest in Peace, Robert Champion, but you should have known better. Here is a repost of a very good comment  written by icantrememberallofmyaliases on the original post.

He states in his article that groups try to weed out the weak but what they end up weeding out are the people who will probably say "no" about any move or decision made in the hierarchy. There has been an illusion withheld and promoted as an advancement strategy in Black America that if you wanted to prove you were exceptional, you joined heirarchal groups and allowed them to haze you and tame your free will. I've heard for decades endless number of Blacks tout their famous Black associates of their groups as clout and evidence that they were themselves game-changers by association and they were going to save Black People. All of these people wait for top-down leadership and are rather unexceptional after it all. Given they may go ahead and abiide to a check list, become something statusy like a doctor or lawyer, but nothing transformative comes from people who abide to heirarchies. I mean, there are the few exceptions but the few you can hardly name. I guess seeing Charles Blow in his forties try to strive for exceptionalism now is even so slow-paced because he can't step fast enough from the systems he volunteered to uphold by joining.

Now he is maturing to realize and come clean about his decision but he isn't even close to understanding he left out the metric rate of ownership he put into it and all other heirarchal behaviors we abide to or have to go along with as normalized systems of managing ourselves in a modern world.

Those people that dropped were the stronger ones and the smarter ones. But they were not recognized by heirarchal society as leaders for disobeying the silly observance and ritualistic thoughts.

I have a forty-something Black male cousin who is stuck in so many ways in his life because he wanted heirarchal stewardship to shape his life. And it did. He can't detach from believing in heirarchies because he spent so much time invested in the romanticism of believing it redeemed him and made him righteous. He thought it would make his wise and exceptional. And that's why they all join. They all think something magical is going to make them an exceptional being because of joining the heirarchies. Time is wasted, humanity is developmentally stunted...intelligence is warped.

Those who join heirarchies are the problems. They are not victims after they end up dying from their volunteerism to join those heirarchies. When the incidents are not pressing them against the wall, it's pressing someone else and they are standing theire supporting no matter how bad they feel about it in real-time. Their inclusion to join is what keeps these heirarchies alive to stall human emotional and mental maturity. Their decisions to stay can't buy them redemption in an op-ed softly trying to excuse away and avoid admitting ownership just because he is admitting it did hurt his behind and make him dizzy. He still is a part of the problem by having to have to face this as the neanderthal in a suit posing as an evolved NYTimes columnist for his peers. He is still showing me and those that can critically think that he's behind-the-curve and just admitting after-the-fact because he is realizing he has been a part of it for all this time.

I have a friend who denounced the Greek/Pan Hellenic system after she 'crossed because she realized she was a neanderthal for sticking with it. After 'crossing, she realized it was a deformed system of management and all that romanticism was inept. She refuses to put it on her resumes or to own anything and she was someone they begged to reconsider. She is in her fifties now. It's people like her that needed to be able to find other people like themselves to take down these heirarchies in Black America that do nothing to advance us. But she had limited resources and didn't think there was more of her out there. And Charles Blow shows that they're aren't. He's trying to act like he is evolved by admitting it did hurt in the past. He's just coming clean now because it took him this long developmentally to realize how long he has abided to not getting it.

How can he now explain why he has been bragging about membership in an antiquated system? It's everywhere in print that he is a member. He used to brag about it for an edge. Now that edge isn't so cache. The value that heirarchies once had isn't the same in the evolving world of intelligence. It makes it hard to pass off one's self as an evolutionary man working at The Times when that is blaring at everyone to see that you are slow at recognizing this wasn't something to brag about...being a member of an antiquated heirarchal system.

Thoughts on World AIDS Day: Moving From Shame to Acceptance

So,  nearly 6 months since I posted anything on the original blog.

Having said that, I'll be try to be concise as I can while I write this post. To put it bluntly, I am living with HIV and have been for some time now. Part of the reason I chose to write this post is because of World AIDS Day and the fact that I'll be volunteering in some activity to help PLWHA - myself being one of them. I was diagnosed in 1998 and for the last 13 years or so, I had been very fortunate to not need medication as my body's immune system had done a pretty good job keeping the virus in check. That all changed this year though; after many doctor consultations and discussions with friends who are HIV specialists, I elected to start HAART. I chose Atripla, which is one of the medicines that combines three classes of Anti-HIV agents into one pill.

To state that this process of taking medications (which I will now have to do for the rest of my life) has been an adjustment period would be an understatement. It has required some lifestyle changes as well as some outlook changes. I am fortunate to have a pretty good working knowledge of pharmacology as well as close friends who are stellar physicians. As long as I continue to take care of myself and make my health a priority, there is no reason why I won't be able to live a productive life and accomplish all of the things I have purposed myself to do. This post is a bit cathartic in that it allows me to publicly declare my comfort with something that used to cause me much pain, angst and shame. It's almost as if it is a second coming out and one that allows me to be free from my own judgments about what I considered a shortcoming. It allows me to function in complete honesty and candor about myself. Such is the case with self-acceptance and for that I am completely grateful. For anyone who may be missive of the psychological toll HIV takes on a person who becomes infected, it's real and traumatic.

Another reason I chose to write this post and expose myself is related to the stigmatization that accompanies HIV disease. People still think of it as something that people get when they are behaving badly and to some extent, that's right. If I had never engaged in unprotected sex with a person who was HIV positive, I would have never become infected. I did though; and I am though. However, the same can be said of lung cancer patients who are chronic smokers or the morbidly obese who suffer from hypertension and diabetes and continue to over eat or eat poorly. Others see HIV as a disease that prompts an almost permanent relegation to victim status. I don't. They feel that HIV positive people shouldn't have to be held to the same standards as anyone else who lives with and trudges through adversity. Let me be clear though, I still believe in the need for programs that are dedicated to improving the lives of HIV positive people, particularly since discrimination against people living with HIV is still prevalent. I think that after 30 years of this epidemic though, that their  needs to be a push to focus on improving the lives of PLWHA through reinforcing the right to self determination instead of depriving them of it.

When I used to work in HOPWA housing too many people developed an over-inflated since of entitlement about many programs. Their idea was that the government owed them something as a result of becoming HIV Positive. At the beginning of the epidemic, when people were losing their jobs, homes, and social supports - all because of HIV infection (actual or perceived) it was absolutely necessary to create programs like those funded through the Ryan White Care Act.  As a result, those who truly needed the help had to be turned away because those who could lead more independent lives chose to do otherwise... and were convinced that they were consummate victims and that their HIV diagnosis precluded them from being contributing members of society. I resented them for it because I have lived with the same disease for over a decade. I managed to put myself through college, matriculated with a BS degree in Biology and a minor in Chemistry, worked full time, maintained my own apartment without assistance from any program and did so because I'd have felt guilty siphoning resources that were already scarce and need by someone else who desperately needed them. I have seen people lose housing vouchers for failing to pay their portion of HOPWA rent, abuse food stamps and food voucher programs, or lie about their income to qualify for resources that weren't eligible to receive in the first place. And whether you agree or not, these things reinforce HIV stigmatization more than any person's belief about the disease.

HIV can be a disabling condition, but it does not have to be. And my diagnosis as an HIV positive person does not abrogate me from my responsibility to society to do everything I was doing prior to getting infected - to be a contributing functioning member of my community. It also means that I take a special interest in trying to prevent the spread of a disease that has devastated the lives of  so many people. So while I commemorate World AIDS Day on Thursday, December 1, 2011, I do so hoping that HIV positive people take the lead in making changes to many of the programs that support HIV positive people by empowering them - not hobbling them by stigmatizing them as victims.

I had an interesting conversation with one of my professors about that changing landscape of HIV activism. She made an interesting argument about how the Breast Cancer movement was able to build itself out of removing shame and stigma associated with the disease, to one that empowers breast cancer survivors. How can we as HIV positive people do the same thing? How can we move forward? When can we celebrate AIDS in the same fashion we celebrate breast cancer?

I solicited a few thoughts from close friends of mine who are also HIV positive and the reponses were overwhelmingly positive, but still affected by stigma. I was going to publish them here, but will save them for another time because I want to tell their stories. For now, in celebration of World AIDS Day, go get tested. If you are positive, keep living life.

Things can only get better if you have an absurd determination to live.

BLKSeaGoat's 2 cents for the day.

Hypocrisy IS a Christian moral virtue. Don't believe me? Check the Nigga Church for specific examples.

DC: The Official Chitlin' Eatin Nigga Play Cousin City of Day-Twat

I got fired from my job and I am now suckling from the Unemployment Insurance utter... and it FEELS GREAT!

So, I'll just start where the foolishness begins regarding the title of this post. If you've been a regular reader of my blog, you should know that I have very little tolerance for stuff that I affectionately call "Nigga Shit". If you've been a regular reader of this blog, you know that I have highlighted stories that call Nigga Shit our for what it is - sometimes to the chagrin of some of my readers. You'll be happy to know that things have not changed and unfortunately have gotten progressively worse.

Fortunately for me (and you), the Niggarometer has been off the chain with all kinds of Nigga Shit that I have deemed worthy of comment.

I live in Washington, DC - home to "Mayor for Life" and Chitlin Eatin' Nigga Supreme Baselius, Marion Barry. In Novemeber of 2010, DC voters chose to oust then mayor Adrian Fenty from office and elected Chitlin' Eatin Nigga-lite, then Council President, Vincent Gray. People's rationale for choosing Gray over Fenty almost overwhelmingly centered around their dislike of Fenty's attitude, although those same residents when surveyed, believed that DC had become a better city under Fenty's tenure. The wards of the city that are densely populated by blacks voted overwhelmingly for Gray, the more diverse wards voted for Fenty. The city also held an election for City Council President and that election was won by Kwame Brown (disclaimer: There were NO GOOD candidates running in this election cycle).

So, now that I have updated you on the electoral results for DC (which I am sure you probably knew if you follow district politics) on to the fun stuff!

The Washington City Paper, Washington Post, and Washington Times have all published stories related to the perpetuation of the chronic dysfunction that is the "JayNaySayKwah" of DC politics. There have been charges of cronyism, nepotism, abuse of Executive authority, incompetence, corruption, and complete lapses in ethical behavior. To add insult to injury or whatever euphemism you find appropriate to explain away Nigga Shit, the DC City Council has decided to introduce a bill that supposed to tighten ethical oversight of the Executive Office of the Mayor and the City Council. Leading the charge for this piece of shit legislation is Kwame Brown, the DC Council Chair, who in true Chitlin' Eatin Nigga fashion ordered not one, but TWO $60,000.00 SUVs because his own care was repossessed. The city is still on the hook for the leases at $2000.00 each. Kwame is also now under investigation by the DC Board of Elections and Ethics (ain't that some shit?) because he failed to report that his brother had signing authority to dispense campaign payments. In fact, his brother was a highly paid staff member and funneled some of the campaign money to his own privately held consulting firm.

I digress though. Even as I write this, it bothers me that I've even had to go into this level of detail, which is perfunctory at best. I'll make my point though. DC is considered a FEDERAL TERRITORY. It is one of the 5-7 territories, but enjoys some special privileges because it is the seat of the all powerful Federal government. It also gets fucked in the ass without Vaseline because unlike all of the other U.S. territories, DC residents are assessed FEDERAL income taxes without the benefit of Representation at the Federal level. Nearly 50% of the city's 69.7 square miles is ineligible for being assessed property taxes and DC's budget MUST receive Congressional approval before it can be approved by the City Council. DC also has an independent Office of the Inspector General, a US Attorney's Office, a Federal Circuit Court, etc. It receives an extreme amount of Federal oversight, or at least it should.

WHY THEN IS IT NECESSARY TO CREATE ANOTHER PIECE OF LEGISLATION for oversight? This is political posturing of the WORST kind!

Now the bill creates a watch dog group or panel (you know how "useful" panels are) and the Mayor has the authority to appoint the majority the panel members which must receive approval from the DC Council. Has self regulation of political or legislative bodies EVER worked? Even worse, the person co-sponsoring the legislation hasn't an ethical bone in his short body, but he's leading the charge to restore integrity to DC politics. The DC Attorney General has already cited a number of flaws with the bill and would any sane person be surprised? Of course you wouldn't be.

It's going to be a long summer. At least Day-Twat has Mayor Bing.

Read more here.

The NIGGA CHURCH: Blind devotion to Passah

Niggas and religion just should NEVER mix. Listen to the blind devotion to this Elmer Gantry ofthe hood. One man actually states that people's lives depend on the Pastah. Really? I thought that power was reserved by God?

Perpetuating the Failure of Black Men: How Infantalization and Coddling Have Ruined Most of US.

You know how it is. Life begins to happen and before you know it, all those promises you made about blogging on a regular basis end up in the field of broken promises... where they die. I have no real excuse for forsaking my blogs with the exception of laziness. So, to my readers and lurkers, forgive me. I am back though. I'll take re-entering the blogosphere one day or post at a time. That way, I won't feel so pressured to be blogging and I won't feel guilty when I'm not posting.

Today's post won't be done proper justice in one post, but it is certain to be a conversation starter. There have been several stories over the course of the last few days that have irritated me in the same manner hemorrhoids irritate the people you see in those Preparation H commercials. Not for nothing though there appeared an overreaching theme. In each story and I'll provide a synopsis about each of them, there was some tortured black man embroiled in a some scandal that he created himself, but failed to accept the responsibility for creating the scandal.

Ironically, all of my actual media stories will come from the Detroit Free Press, so admittedly this post may appear biased against the Motor City, but it's ONLY because Detroit (Day-Twat) is the home of the Chitlin' Eatin' Negro and all of his spawn. So my first story is about Mr. Otis Mathis, a PRESIDENT of the Detroit Public School Board who was forced to resign after he pulled his dick out during a meeting with the female Superintendent of Day-Twat Public Schools. While Mathis groped and fondled himself (whether to completion still remains a mystery), the female colleague became visibly offended and reported him AS any VICTIM OF A SEXUAL ASSAULT SHOULD DO, (yeah, I'm taking it there). Mathis summarily issued a letter of resignation and then arbitrarily rescinded it and issued an apology. Mathis claimed that he knew his actions were "inappropriate" and that he "needs treatment". Really? Just inappropriate? Is that what sexual assault has been reduced to in Mathis' warped little treatment needing mind? Braindead Day-Twat school board members aside, the board, at least MOST of them rejected rescinding Mathis letter of resignation. Last time I checked, pulling one's dick out at a meeting with colleagues, unless your colleagues are strippers, porn stars, or cadavers, is just plain wrong.

Mathis didn't see it that way. He found an ally in another black male school board, the Reverend David Murray. Murray's exact quote dismisses the whole dick jerking thing and then blames Mathis' sexual depravity on being a young man. He issues the final Coup de Grace by minimizing sexual assault as being "is what it is." He fully supports Mathis' desire to remain employed by Day-Twat taxpayers.

At least one DPS board member said Friday that he has no problem with Mathis remaining on the board.

Reverend David Murray said Mathis took responsibility for his bad behavior toward Gueyser.

"He's a young man; maybe he didn't know it was offensive to her," Murray said of the 55-year-old Mathis. "It's not something I would do. He's a young man. That's just the way it is."

Now, in comparison to an 80 year-old Nigga Church Pastor who dismisses jerking off in public with the audience of a TOP-LEVEL PROFESSIONAL at a MEETING, A 55 year-old sex offender would seem young I suppose. However, the bigger problem is the actual expectation by the troglodyte Murray, that this shit is okay. Even worse? The fact that the PRESIDENT of the Day-Twat School Board can BARELY read and was elected CITY-WIDE by the voting populace of a city with residents even MORE stupid than the Chitlin' Eatin' Marion Barry supporting knuckle-draggers of DC.

At least Day-Twat has one bright spot operating with at least some sense of morality and decency. Rochelle Riley wrote an Op-ed about this utter bullshit and called Nigga Church Pastor Murray out for his foolishness. That's great that she had mustered up enough indignation to sound an alarm about this idle-minded man with busy hands, but where are the BLACK MEN condemning this foolishness? Why does an older black man think that whipping your dick out and shaking at someone you work with WOULDN'T be offensive to ANYONE, but even more so to a woman? See, when overgrown manchildren are coddled and indulged by supposed "right-thinking" black folks this is the result. There's always an excuse for their depravity. The litany of black male protectionism starts with, "He didn't have a daddy" or " He had a rough upbringing" or "He's a young man entitled to make mistakes." To clarify, a mistake is putting chlorine bleach in a load of colorfast clothes. A mistake is putting 87 octane gas in your mother's car when she specifically asked for 93. A mistake is purchasing a white onion when you were told to get a yellow sweet onion because of the better flavor. Those are MISTAKES. Shaking your dick at someone during a meeting, acting like a petulant child during your press conference, and attempting to explain your behavior by reducing what is actually sexual assault to nothing more than some inappropriate actions are NOT mistakes.

Otis Mathis, had you shaken your dick at me, you'd ONLY be finding certain pieces of it this week.

We'll continue this in the next post. Chris Brown, Kwame Kilpatrick, and those infamous DC Carter boys will be next.

The Nigga Church: A Video Tribute to Coonin' for the Lord!

Actual video that took place at a Nigga Church sometime last year:



Video of the Now defunct hit sketch comedy series, "In Living Color":



Now how are these two different? They aren't. As fake and contrivved as the In Living Color skit is, it is at least funny. The Nigga Church? Not so much. How the hell are these people supposed to be the Salt of the Earth and witnesses for da Lawd, when they are in church acting like a bunch of Chitlin' Eatin' Sambos?

AN EPIPHANY

EPIPHANY - [i-pif-uh-nee]; a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.


Welcome to 2010. I am now 35 years of age and little older and wiser. I'm a bit more intuitive, much more self-aware, and a bit more self accepting. Have you ever undergone an introspective moment in your life where everything just suddenly fell into place and you could hear your brain saying "A HA!"? It's as if the stars aligned, purpose became clear, and focused sharpened. At that very moment anything you choose to accomplish can be done with minimal effort; you are self motivated and determined.

I had one of those moments during my birthday weekend.

For some time now I have been struggling with a number of decisions to make that will influence my future directions. I have always known what the outcomes should be, but there have ALWAYS been multiple paths. It makes it incredibly difficult to decide on one course when there are so many options to choose from. I am also an incredibly proud and extremely self-reliant person, so asking for guidance isn't one of my strong suits, particularly because I have been running the show of my life since I was about 15 or so. Add to that complete independence at 17, lack of parental guidance or involvement during the college selection process, emancipation, and total financial independence all around the same time.

I won't disclose what my future directions are because as a wise man once told me, "You should NEVER reveal your dreams to ANYONE because they will talk you out of them." So I didn't write this for advice, but as a means of documenting and silently articulating what those goals are.

What I will disclose is that I have secured admission to a program that my science background will prove useful. I am excited about the prospect and no, I have not abandoned Law School. Ive simply altered the path to get there.

I'll be back... S O O N

It's been so damn long and I keep promising to blog more and regularly, but I'm finding that time won't allow me to dedicate myself to blogging like it used to. I also turned 35 last month, re-evaluated my life's direction and purpose, attemtped to stop drinking (alot), and I've had some good introspection that I'll share in some posts later.

In any case, my first post after a long hiatus will be POT LUCK about black love and relationships, more foolishness about Chitlin' Eatin Niggas, The Nigga Church, the uselessness of Black History Month, and further proof that black folks continue to lose their God Damned minds.

Of course, me being the witty negro that I am, I'll be infusing my post with my standard acerbic capricorn wit.

So, to my followers and fellow blog rollers, I'm BACK!!!

SILENT PROTEST OF R. KELLY IN WASHINGTON, DC. - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROTESTERS TO GREET R. KELLY ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT DURING D.C. CONCERT AT DAR CONSTITUTION HAL


WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 20, 2009 - When popular R& B crooner R. Kelly hits the stage at the DAR Constitution Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday night he may hit a sour note with a group of protesters fed up with his racy lyrics that they say objectify and degrade black women and girls. Some concerned citizens of the Washington, DC metro area have their own song to sing to Mr. Kelly: stop objectifying and degrading black women and girls.

“R. Kelly is no stranger to controversy. He is most infamously known for being tried and acquitted for several felony child molestation and child pornography charges. He’s also known for very sexually suggestive lyrics and continues to degrade black women and girls by making his music.” says Vicki Bleus, a protest organizer.

The purpose of this protest is to call attention to the fact R. Kelly’s sexually suggestive lyrics disrespect black women and girls. The protest organizers believe that silent demonstration is one of the most effective methods for voicing opposition to the continued victimization of black women and girls by popular music. “The hypersexualization of the black feminine aesthetic is based on revolting and destructive stereotypes that originated with the institution of slavery”, adds Shane Johnson, a local blogger-turned-community activist. “As a man I find R. Kelly’s music dehumanizing and disgusting. Instead of lifting black women and girls up, he is complicit in their continued objectification.”

The protest will occur each night of the concert on November 24 and 25, 2009. Protesters will assemble with picket signs at 5:45 pm and will remain outside of the concert hall until 10:30 pm. The Protest will take place on the 17th Street NW sidewalk bordering the main entrance of the DAR Constitution Hall.

“This protest is a call to arms for anyone who cares about black women. This was a crime against humanity and I am surprised at the level of apathy and lack of outrage from our self-appointed black leaders.” said Johnson.

For more information, please contact Shane Johnson at sbjatlanta@yahoo.com.

Sounding the Alarm... AGAIN! PROTEST AGAINST R. KELLY IN WASHINGTON, DC

So it been a few months since my last post and ironically the 2 year anniversary of a Counter Protest I launched in response to Al-Sharpton's do-nothingness about the Dunbar Village Rape tragedy. The theme of the protest was so much bigger than Al's fat ass though. I, like many of you who read this blog (or used to but stopped because I haven't written anything in AGES), became infuriated with how the self-appointed coalition of black leaders (used loosely) are no where to be found when it comes to protect the lives of black women. Equally important is the fact that black leaders and theblack community in general are even more absent than normal when the victimizers of black women are black men. In fact, many black women vociferously defend the actions of those implicit in their degradation, humiliation, and dehumanization.

The protest only drew a modest group of supporters, but they were there nonetheless. It received national coverage and began a conversation that some black folks had been having in the blogosphere, but that had not quite been acknowledge by the greater mass of the black collective. For the amount of people we had and the nationwide coverage, I'd call that a success.

To that end I find it necessary to take to the streets once again next week. For many of you who have forgotten, serial child rapist and pedophile, Robert Kelly BKA R. Kelly will be in Washington, DC in concert. I haven't forgotten and niether should anyone else that this is the same man who brought us "Half on a Baby", "Feeling on yo' Booty", JEEP, and others like it. He is the same man who raped Aaliyah Houghton, pissed on a 14 year-old girl and was acquitted for those charges because of the silliness that exists in Chicago. If he had done any of that stuff to even ONE white girl, he'd be under a jail. Even black people would consider him a deviant because black folks have a tendency to treat white victims with the same deference as white people do... but I digress.

The fact remains that this protest is about the same thing and I'll be out there even if I have to be alone. Someone has to call attention to the fact that black folks need to drop a DAISY CUTTER on R. Kelly and industry that supports and compels him to continue making music. I have decided that the someone will be me. I'll post the assembly instructions and status updates here. In the meantime, if you care about black women and girls, DO SOMETHING!

Good Music for Feel Good Friday: Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress... Love Cannot Falter

Just because I'm feeling kinda in that mood. ENJOY! BTW, the lyrics to the libretto (right around 5:56) are

I go, I got to him.
Love cannot falter,
Cannot desert;
Though it be shunned,
Or be forgotten,
Though it be hurt,
If love be love, It will not alter.
O should I see
My love in need;
It shall not matter
What he may be,
I go to him.
Love cannot falter,
Cannot desert.
Time cannot alter
A loving heart;
An ever-loving heart.

Tribute to the Liberal Lion of the Senate: The Cause Endures

R.I.P. Senator Kennedy. While I may not have always agreed with his politics or his personal decisions, I respected him. Below is my favorite speech by Senator Kennedy because it establishes the clearest definition of what liberal principles and ideals are.

Well, things worked out a little different from the way I thought, but let
me tell you, I still love New York.

My fellow Democrats and my fellow Americans, I have come here tonight
not to argue as a candidate but to affirm a cause. I'm asking you--I am asking
you to renew the commitment of the Democratic Party to economic justice.

I am asking you to renew our commitment to a fair and lasting
prosperity that can put America back to work.

This is the cause that brought me into the campaign and that sustained
me for nine months across 100,000 miles in 40 different states. We had our
losses, but the pain of our defeats is far, far less than the pain of the people
that I have met.

We have learned that it is important to take issues seriously, but
never to take ourselves too seriously.

The serious issue before us tonight is the cause for which the
Democratic Party has stood in its finest hours, the cause that keeps our Party
young and makes it, in the second century of its age, the largest political
party in this republic and the longest lasting political party on this
planet.
Our cause has been, since the days of Thomas Jefferson, the cause of
the common man and the common woman.

Our commitment has been, since the days of Andrew Jackson, to all those
he called "the humble members of society--the farmers, mechanics, and laborers."
On this foundation we have defined our values, refined our policies and
refreshed our faith.

Now I take the unusual step of carrying the cause and the commitment of
my campaign personally to our national convention. I speak out of a deep sense
of urgency about the anguish and anxiety I have seen across America.

I speak out of a deep belief in the ideals of the Democratic Party, and
in the potential of that Party and of a President to make a difference. And I
speak out of a deep trust in our capacity to proceed with boldness and a common
vision that will feel and heal the suffering of our time and the divisions of
our Party.

The economic plank of this platform on its face concerns only material
things, but it is also a moral issue that I raise tonight. It has taken many
forms over many years. In this campaign and in this country that we seek to
lead, the challenge in 1980 is to give our voice and our vote for these
fundamental democratic principles.

Let us pledge that we will never misuse unemployment, high interest
rates, and human misery as false weapons against inflation.

Let us pledge that employment will be the first priority of our
economic policy.

Let us pledge that there will be security for all those who are now at
work, and let us pledge that there will be jobs for all who are out of work; and
we will not compromise on the issue of jobs.

These are not simplistic pledges. Simply put, they are the heart of our
tradition, and they have been the soul of our Party across the generations. It
is the glory and the greatness of our tradition to speak for those who have no
voice, to remember those who are forgotten, to respond to the frustrations and
fulfill the aspirations of all Americans seeking a better life in a better
land.
We dare not forsake that tradition. We cannot let the great purposes of
the Democratic Party become the bygone passages of history.

We must not permit the Republicans to seize and run on the slogans of
prosperity. We heard the orators at their convention all trying to talk like
Democrats. They proved that even Republican nominees can quote Franklin
Roosevelt to their own purpose.

The Grand Old Party thinks it has found a great new trick, but 40 years
ago an earlier generation of Republicans attempted the same trick. And Franklin
Roosevelt himself replied, "Most Republican leaders have bitterly fought and
blocked the forward surge of average men and women in their pursuit of
happiness. Let us not be deluded that overnight those leaders have suddenly
become the friends of average men and women."

"You know," he continued, "very few of us are that gullible." And four
years later when the Republicans tried that trick again, Franklin Roosevelt
asked "Can the Old Guard pass itself off as the New Deal? I think not. We have
all seen many marvelous stunts in the circus, but no performing elephant could
turn a handspring without falling flat on its back."

The 1980 Republican convention was awash with crocodile tears for our
economic distress, but it is by their long record and not their recent words
that you shall know them.

The same Republicans who are talking about the crisis of unemployment
have nominated a man who once said, and I quote, "Unemployment insurance is a
prepaid vacation plan for freeloaders." And that nominee is no friend of
labor.

The same Republicans who are talking about the problems of the inner
cities have nominated a man who said, and I quote, "I have included in my
morning and evening prayers every day the prayer that the Federal Government not
bail out New York." And that nominee is no friend of this city and our great
urban centers across this Nation.

The same Republicans who are talking about security for the elderly
have nominated a man who said just four years ago that "Participation in social
security should be made voluntary." And that nominee is no friend of the senior
citizens of this Nation.

The same Republicans who are talking about preserving the environment
have nominated a man who last year made the preposterous statement, and I quote,
"Eighty percent of our air pollution comes from plants and trees."

And that nominee is no friend of the environment.

And the same Republicans who are invoking Franklin Roosevelt have
nominated a man who said in 1976, and these are his exact words, "Fascism was
really the basis of the New Deal." And that nominee whose name is Ronald Reagan
has no right to quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The great adventures which
our opponents offer is a voyage into the past. Progress is our heritage, not
theirs.

What is right for us as Democrats is also the right way for Democrats to
win.

The commitment I seek is not to outworn views but to old values that
will never wear out. Programs may sometimes become obsolete, but the ideal of
fairness always endures.

Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue. It
is surely correct that we cannot solve problems by throwing money at them, but
it is also correct that we dare not throw out our national problems onto a scrap
heap of inattention and indifference.

The poor may be out of political fashion, but they are not without human
needs. The middle class may be angry, but they have not lost the dream that all
Americans can advance together.

The demand of our people in 1980 is not for smaller government or
bigger government but for better government.

Some say that government is always bad and that spending for basic social
programs is the root of our economic evils. But we reply: The present inflation
and recession cost our economy $200 billion a year. We reply: Inflation and
unemployment are the biggest spenders of all.

The task of leadership in 1980 is not to parade scapegoats or to seek
refuge in reaction, but to match our power to the possibilities of progress.
While others talked of free enterprise, it was the Democratic Party that acted
and we ended excessive regulation in the airline and trucking industry and we
restored competition to the marketplace.

And I take some satisfaction that this deregulation was legislation that I
sponsored and passed in the Congress of the United States.

As Democrats we recognize that each generation of Americans has a
rendezvous with a different reality. The answers of one generation become the
questions of the next generation.

But there is a guiding star in the American firmament. It is as old as the
revolutionary belief that all people are created equal, and as clear as the
contemporary condition of Liberty City and the South Bronx.

Again and again Democratic leaders have followed that star and they
have given new meaning to the old values of liberty and justice for all.

We are the party.

We are the party of the New Freedom, the New Deal and the New Frontier. We
have always been the party of hope. So this year let us offer new hope, new hope
to an America uncertain about the present, but unsurpassed in its potential for
the future.

To all those who are idle in the cities and industries of America let
us provide new hope for the dignity of useful work. Democrats have always
believed that a basic civil right of all Americans is their right to earn their
own way.

The party of the people must always be the party of full employment. To all
those who doubt the future of our economy, let us provide new hope for the
reindustrialization of America. And let our vision reach beyond the next
election or the next year to a new generation of prosperity. If we could rebuild
Germany and Japan after World War II, then surely we can reindustrialize our own
nation and revive our inner cities in the 1980s.

To all those who work hard for a living wage let us provide new hope
that the price of their employment shall not be an unsafe workplace and a death
at an earlier age.

To all those who inhabit our land from California to the New York
Island, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulfstream waters, let us provide new
hope that prosperity shall not be purchased by poisoning the air, the rivers and
the natural resources that are the greatest gift of this continent.

We must insist that our children and our grandchildren shall inherit a
land which they can truly call America the beautiful.

To all those who see the worth of their work and their savings taken by
inflation, let us offer new hope for a stable economy. We must meet the
pressures of the present by invoking the full power of government to master
increasing prices.

In candor, we must say that the Federal budget can be balanced only by
policies that bring us to a balanced prosperity of full employment and price
restraint.

And to all those overburdened by an unfair tax structure, let us
provide new hope for real tax reform. Instead of shutting down classrooms, let
us shut off tax shelters.

Instead of cutting out school lunches, let us cut off tax subsidies for
expensive business lunches that are nothing more than food stamps for the
rich.

The tax cut of our Republican opponents takes the name of tax reform in
vain. It is a wonderfully Republican idea that would redistribute income in the
wrong direction. It is good news for any of you with incomes over $200,000 a
year. For the few of you, it offers a pot of gold worth $14,000. But the
Republican tax cut is bad news for the middle income families.
For the many
of you, they plan a pittance of $200 a year, and that is not what the Democratic
Party means when we say tax reform.

The vast majority of Americans cannot afford this panacea from a
Republican nominee who has denounced the progressive income tax as the invention
of Karl Marx. I am afraid he has confused Karl Marx with Theodore
Roosevelt--that obscure Republican president who sought and fought for a tax
system based on ability to pay. Theodore Roosevelt was not Karl Marx, and the
Republican tax scheme is not tax reform.

Finally, we cannot have a fair prosperity in isolation from a fair
society. So I will continue to stand for a national health insurance.

We must not surrender to the relentless medical inflation that can
bankrupt almost anyone and that may soon break the budgets of government at
every level. Let us insist on real control over what doctors and hospitals can
charge, and let us resolve that the state of a family's health shall never
depend on the size of a family's wealth.

The President, the Vice President, the members of Congress have a
medical plan that meets their needs in full, and whenever senators and
representatives catch a little cold, the Capitol physician will see them
immediately, treat them promptly, fill a prescription on the spot. We do not get
a bill even if we ask for it, and when do you think was the last time a member
of Congress asked for a bill from the Federal Government?

I say again, as I have before, if health insurance is good enough for
the President, the Vice President and the Congress of the United States, then it
is good enough for you and every family in America.

There were some who said we should be silent about our differences on
issues during this convention, but the heritage of the Democratic Party has been
a history of democracy. We fight hard because we care deeply about our
principles and purposes. We did not flee this struggle. We welcome the contrast
with the empty and expedient spectacle last month in Detroit where no nomination
was contested, no question was debated, and no one dared to raise any doubt or
dissent.

Democrats can be proud that we chose a different course and a different
platform. We can be proud that our party stands for investment in safe energy
instead of a nuclear future that may threaten the future itself.

We must not permit the neighborhoods of America to be permanently
shadowed by the fear of another Three Mile Island.

We can be proud that our party stands for a fair housing law to unlock
the doors of discrimination once and for all. The American house will be divided
against itself so long as there is prejudice against any American buying or
renting a home.

And we can be proud that our party stands plainly and publicly and
persistently for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Women hold their rightful place at our convention, and women must have
their rightful place in the Constitution of the United States. On this issue we
will not yield, we will not equivocate, we will not rationalize, explain or
excuse. We will stand for E.R.A. and for the recognition at long last that our
nation was made up of founding mothers as well as founding fathers.

A fair prosperity and a just society are within our vision and our
grasp, and we do not have every answer. There are questions not yet asked,
waiting for us in the recesses of the future, but of this much we can be certain
because it is the lesson of all our history: Together a president and the people
can make a difference. I have found that faith still alive wherever I have
traveled across this land. So let us reject the counsel of retreat and the call
to reaction. Let us go forward in the knowledge that history only helps those
who help themselves.

There will be setbacks and sacrifices in the years ahead but I am
convinced that we as a people are ready to give something back to our country in
return for all it has given to us.

Let this be our commitment: Whatever sacrifices must be made will be
shared and shared fairly. And let this be our confidence: At the end of our
journey and always before us shines that ideal of liberty and justice for
all.

In closing, let me say a few words to all those that I have met and to
all those who have supported me, at this convention and across the country.
There were hard hours on our journey, and often we sailed against the wind. But
always we kept our rudder true, and there were so many of you who stayed the
course and shared our hope. You gave your help, but even more, you gave your
hearts.

Because of you, this has been a happy campaign. You welcomed Joan, me
and our family into your homes and neighborhoods, your churches, your campuses,
your union halls. When I think back of all the miles and all the months and all
the memories, I think of you. I recall the poet's words, and I say: What golden
friends I have.

Among you, my golden friends across this land, I have listened and
learned.

I have listened to Kenny Dubois, a glassblower in Charleston, West
Virginia, who has ten children to support but has lost his job after 35 years,
just three years short of qualifying for his pension.
I have listened to the
Trachta family who farm in Iowa and who wonder whether they can pass the good
life and the good earth on to their children.

I have listened to the grandmother in East Oakland who no longer has a
phone to call her grandchildren because she gave it up to pay the rent on her
small apartment.

I have listened to young workers out of work, to students without the
tuition for college, and to families without the chance to own a home.

I have seen the closed factories and the stalled assembly lines of
Anderson, Indiana and South Gate, California, and I have seen too many, far too
many idle men and women desperate to work. I have seen too many, far too many
working families desperate to protect the value of their wages from the ravages
of inflation.

Yet I have also sensed a yearning for new hope among the people in
every state where I have been. And I have felt it in their handshakes, I saw it
in their faces, and I shall never forget the mothers who carried children to our
rallies. I shall always remember the elderly who have lived in an America of
high purpose and who believe that it can all happen again.

Tonight, in their name, I have come here to speak for them. And for
their sake, I ask you to stand with them. On their behalf I ask you to restate
and reaffirm the timeless truth of our party.

I congratulate President Carter on his victory here.

I am confident that the Democratic Party will reunite on the basis of
Democratic principles, and that together we will march towards a Democratic
victory in 1980.

And someday, long after this convention, long after the signs come
down, and the crowds stop cheering, and the bands stop playing, may it be said
of our campaign that we kept the faith. May it be said of our Party in 1980 that
we found our faith again.

And may it be said of us, both in dark passages and in bright days, in
the words of Tennyson that my brothers quoted and loved, and that have special
meaning for me now:

"I am a part of all that I have met....
Tho much is taken, much abides....
That which we are, we are-- One equal temper of heroic
hearts,
...strong in willTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."


For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end.

For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on,
the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never
die.

Racism and the Perceived Immunity of the Gay Community

Cross posted at Black, Male, and Gay ... in THAT Order

HRC has decided to host a webchat addressing issues of race and racism within the Gay Community. *GASP* You mean gay people have the capability of being consumed with the same racist ideologies as their heterosexual bretheren? Of course they do... and in some cases they are WORSE than there hetero sexual bretheren. Take this letter to the editor of the Washington Blade for example in response to a qestion about if this country would ever get an openly gay Supreme Court nominee,

One of your readers said the country was run by “old white men” — but just where is the proof of that? We have a black president, a black attorney general, a female secretary of state and many cabinet chiefs or senior posts are filled by non-white males. Whites are now the minority in four states, including California.

In 20 years,17 states will be minority white. Most big city mayors are non-white male. As a gay male, even I know that those so-called “old white men”(read:straight) have passed many laws that have benefited minority groups. Ask yourself, can you honestly see a Supreme Court totally black, female and Hispanic? I shudder at the thought. What’s next? A chairman of the Joint Chiefs bringing his sheep to work? A few cross-dressing senators on the floor filibustering? A group of drag queen representatives in the House? A blind 747 pilot? A deaf music critic? Lifeguards who cannot swim? Why not, isn’t it their human/civil right? Just how far will the envelope be pushed before we implode?

As far as your reader who worried about “old white men,” he does not have to worry for long. The last real generation of whites are lying beneath the sands of Iwo Jima and Normandy. Now, most are pink with yellow stripes running down their backs.  Rome tried multiculturalism and look what happened to them. It’s only a matter of time. I would prefer straight whites making command decisions. Heaven help this country if we don’t.

Now, to this reader's credit I can understand his point about the ever increasing inclusiveness of the gay community. How many other letters will be used to ensure that every person who simply identifies themself as an abberation to the accepted social norm will we allow to be recognized? However, the reader's racism begins to rear its ugly head and all of his points disintegrate into a tirade that exposes his racial prejudices, heteronormative bias, AND - dare I say it, internalized homophobia )for which blacks gays are VILLIFIED in both mainstream and gay media)!

The following information can be deduced from the reader's letter:

• He must have failed history because he completely ignored the preceding 389 years or so of systemic racial segregation, deprivation of equality, and legalized discrimination.
• He assumes that one election of the FIRST black president in the 230-year history of the United States had more to do with timing than the influence of what I previously mentioned
• He assumes that ONLY whites, particularly white men possess the temperament to make good decisions (dissmissing the fact that whites DECIDED to institutionalize the items mentioned in the first bullet)
• He assumes that the playing field has been leveled by white men's "passage of laws that have benefitted minorities", while ignoring the fact that they selectively chose to ingore enforcing those laws - after all, how fast does one move when they are desegregating at "full deliberate speed"?
• He feels entitled to the USA being his and whites' ALONE. No other people born in this country are as AUTHENTIC as the whites "beneath the sands of Iwo Jima and Normandy" (a POV commonly expressed by whites at McCain and Palin POTUS campaign rallies. More recently from the whites who comprise the BIRTHERS movement)

The rest is just too crazy to even put any thought into, but he definitely hates the fact the he's GAY.

I sincerely wish I could say that this letter represents an extreme POV on behalf of members of what is considered the mainstream gay community, but it doesn't. In fact, if you look at historical accounts of the Gay Rights Movement you'd be hard pressed to find any significant mention of the Black and Puerto Rican drag queens who were tired of being harrassed by the NYPD and decided to fight back by hurling whatever they could get their hands on at the officers.

When people think of the term "Gay" seldom do they think of the banjee boys made popular by James Earl Hardy, the Butch Queens Voguing in "Paris is Burning" or the hundreds of transgenders who compete in the Ms. Thailand pageant. No, the first image of what gay is that comes to mind is a well-dressed, witty, shallow, white male with a rich, bitch type female friend who lives in NYC, has no real profession of his own, but can afford to live in Manhattan in a FABULOUS apartment.

With gays who are a little less shallow and somewhat educated, Gay means a handsome gentleman who is typically white, professional, owns a remodeled home that he may or my not have completed himself, may be partnered, considering adoption, but DEFINITELY owns a dog or a cat. Again, you seldom see an image of gay that INCLUDES any person OTHER than a white male. Even if the image is female, she typically has taken on a gender specific look that isn't neutral. Gay - typically means white and male.

Look at the leadership of the HRC, GLAAD, and the NGLTF. The leadership is typically top heavy with white males. Ask yourself, was the National Black justice coalition and its predercessor the National Black Gay and Lesbian Ledership Forum formed out of necessity or opportunity? While HRC's National Conversation is a good idea in theory, I am not sure how effective it will be at reaching the people who need to be heard the most.

This post will be in TWO Parts.

Black Women Co-signing Domestic Violence... *SIGH*

Black women... sometimes I just don't get it. And Police Officers at that!!! Proper Caption: Being Complicit in one's own Degradation. This is WRONG on so many levels.

Chris Brown -- Back on the Beat

Shared via AddThis

The Crisis of Black Leadership Revisited: When Will you Niggas Learn?

Monica Conyers, Kwame Kilpatrick, Marion Barry, Bill Campbell, Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick, Alcee Hastings, Black Church Leaders, The Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, NAN, etc. What do these people and agencies have in common? They are the beneficiaries of an unwritten code of racial solidarity that compels black people as a collective to continue supporting them - no matter how fundamentally deficient they are when it comes to leadership. Each person and organization I mentioned has had some critical lapse in judgement that has impeded their ability to function competently in the position to which they have been elected, hired to perform, or elevated. This list is simply a sampling of this weeks headlines; it is not intended to be an exhaustive list because that would require 3-4 lengthy posts of simply listing names and their offenses. This post will focus on simply asking questions in an attempt to comprehend why black folks are so easily given to foolishness.

A while back I wrote a post extrapolating Harold Cruse's "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual" and its relevance to the crisis in leadership of the black church. Of course I had to get off message because at the time I wrote the post, Kwame Kilpatrick, the former mayor of Detroit, MI was being indicted for his role in a text-sex message scandal that ultimately resulted in his conviction and brief incarceration. He was a second term mayor who was reelected despite his major lapses in judgement and apparent corruption during his first term. Detroit residents were chided by Kwame's mother, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick for letting people [media and political opponents] "talk about Ya'lls boy". It was an impassioned appeal and rebuke to Detroit residents which ended up becoming a viral video hit on Youtube. Pastors from all over Detroit joined Kwame's team and "held him up in paryer" despite the city losing millions of dollars, thousands of jobs, and more importantly state and federal credibility. Detroit's infrastructure continued to crumble, crime worsened, DPS had a graduation rate of 25% for high school seniors, and many homes went into foreclosure. People still chose to support Kwame.

Act II, Scene I. Enters Monica Conyers, wife of Congressman John Conyers and former City Council President for the city of Detroit. She becomes another youtube star by embarrassing herself and her city by engaging in childish name calling with then and current president of the City Council Ken Cokerel, by calling him Shrek. When confronted by a 13 year old girl about the inappropriate nature of her behavior, Monica argues with the girl and becomes a youtube legend one again. It didn't stop there though. Monica was also having her pockets lined with cash from vendors attempting to do business with the city. Monica sold her integrity (term used here loosely) and her political future (she was jockeying to become mayor) for the equivalent of a "2-piece and a biscuit" with no sides or even a beverage! At least she pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, resigned her position on the council, and has been keeping a low profile. However, it is extremely important to keep in mind that Monica was also twice elected by the voting populace in Detroit.

I could go into the shenanigans of the other people I mentioned, but that would make this post extraordinarily long and probably very boring. However, I would like to turn attention to the quintessential political Phoenix himself, Marion Barry. Marion Barry wasn't always a crack smoking, womanizing, hypocritical, chauvanist. At one point he use to wear the moniker of community activist and organizer for the Student Non-Violnce Coordination Committee (SNCC). His early years were marked by being a member of the generation that helped the Civil Rights movment propel forward. Later, he would become a voice for the poor, margianalized, and forgotten people of Washington, DC. Then he got elected as mayor. While the intent of his initial term as mayor was to level the playing field for the poorer, disenfrachised residents of the District, Barry's term became tainted with rumors of cronyism and corruption. I'm not sure what caused the rapid decay of Barry's personal integrity. Perhaps he became a little drunk with power and felt entitled to make the same mistakes as his colleagues of the political establishment had. Perhaps he is aware that the voting populace in Ward 8 senses that they "owe" him something for being the "Mayor for Life", since they realize he couldn't get elected to dog catcher in a city-wide election.

As a matter of fact, during several television interviews related to the fallout of the Washington City Paper's infamous cover (pictured above), several Ward 8 residents like Tisa Mitchell, thought that BARRY WAS GETTING A RAW DEAL BECAUSE OF HIM BEING BLACK. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Tisa couldn't tell you anything that Barry has done RECENTLY for the residents of Ward 8. She could only voice her unwavering support for him because she just loves some Marion Barry. Of course, no one could possibly take Tisa seriously because her hair matched her pink blouse. What is apparent though is that when it comes to black politics, race trumps competence and accountability ALL THE TIME. If a black politician does only one political act that can be construed to be anything for "his/her people", then that's all they need. Black folks' are loyal to leadership and too damn lazy to demand anything other than a perfunctory loyalty in return. As long as Barry continues to invoke racism and its evils as the reason he has been "called" back to the ministry of public service (loosely used), black folks in Ward 8 at least will continue to vote for him.

Why do you think black people settle for the bottom of the barrel when it comes to leadership?