Why I'll NEVER Go Back to Church Reason #2,345,678 - Pastor Murders Wife, Buries and Freezes her Corpse, Impregnates 19 Year-old Daughter

No disprespect to my hellfire and brimstone peeps, but ya'll REALLY need to rethink this God and Church thing.

In southern Alabama a pentecostal preacher was arrested after preaching a sermon at a revial being hosted by the Inspirational Tabernacle COGIC. Wanna know why? He murdered his wife, buried and exhumed her corpse, and then froze her for a trophy. As if that crime weren't heinous enough, turns out Mr. Jesus incarnate was raping and molesting one of his daughters and ended up impregnating her.

Anthony Hopkins is currently in jail and awaiting arraignment and indictment from the grand jury.

Now how did NO ONE know about this situation? This man fathered 8 children with his wife and had been raping and abusing his oldest daughter during that entire time. I am so glad the 19 year old woman developed the courage to report his sorry ass to the police. When investigators interviewed the pastor of the church where Hopkins was arrested she sounded so damn ignorant. If you are the pastor of a church you have a moral resonsibility to PROTECT your church members. This includes making sure that all ministers and guests are vetted properly.

I hope that this fucker is killed while he's in jail. He certainly isn't worth the flesh his sorry ass is printed in.

John and Elizabeth Edwards = Bonnie and Clyde of the Democratic Party

Good day fellow readers, bloggers and lurkers! By now I am sure that most of you have heard about the revelation of Senator John Edwards affair and possible baby-daddy status for the bastard child he may have sired with Rielle Hunter aka Living-under-assumed-names-and-in expensive-condos-and-houses-with-PAC money. Now before I delve into my take on this situation, I have to give my knee-jerk caveat; some white folks are just goddamned nasty!

For many of you who perceive yourselves to be the moral conscience, compass, and plum line of our country, ya'll really do some fucked up shit! I mean, I know black people are messed up, but most of that is related to de-compensation for a lot of the shit we had to endure in our dealings with you.

On to my... .02 about the Edwards, the bastard, and the skeeza...

So what would you moral pundits say about two people who attempt to deceive the American public by flat out lying to it? Would you trust them to be President and First Lady? Lets add some more dimension to this because it gets even better. Both people are trained lawyers, realize the importance of upholding the truth, and also realize the dangers of perjury and how lying undermines the system of justice they both swore to uphold.

So, reports have been coming out with even more information regarding John Edwards' affair and the timing of when he revealed his affair to his wife. According to several news outlets and even the Edwards themselves, the affair happened between 2005 and 2006. Both John and Elizabeth have reported that John-Boy admitted the affair shortly after it happened.

So, poor, cancer stricken, Elizabeth knew about her husband's cheating ways and also denied the accusations on her husband's behalf. Stand by your man or First lady opportunist?

My problem with this is that these two individuals are LIARS. Period. Having a metastatisized form of breast cancer doesn't abrogate you from being honest. What Johns did was wrong... dead wrong and I hope he gets exactly what he deserves for lying to America, but more importantly, lying to and cheating on his wife. However, Elizabeth was complicit in her husband's lie while she defended him against the affair allegation even though she knew about it.

Is the allure of the presidency so strong that it compels people to do anything to get it? Probably so. Lord knows the OG Bonnie and Clyde of the Democratic Party, Billary, would have auctioned Chelsea off to some Indonesian sweatshop for the opportunity to live at 1600 PENN again.

I'll admit... I was upset with John when the revelation came out. I completely bestowed victimhood on Elizabeth because I felt sorry for her because she has cancer. Then I started thinking, what if she knew and lied with and for John? Of course my suspicions were confirmed.

Yes, Elizabeth is a victim in this horrible series of events, but she's also a liar. Her husband is a piece of scum and so is the woman who bore him the bastard child he denies fathering. In this instance they all deserve each other because they behaved like common trash, especially the Rille and Jon-Boy.

The only true victim in all of this is the baby who will probably never know who her father is because John Boy and his baby's momma don't want to go before Maury Povich to do the paternity test - and the two children he fathered with Elizabeth.

CHITLIN' EATIN' NEGRO EXTRAODINAIRE, Kwame "KK-da-Pimp" Kilpatrick to Spend Night in Jail!

Don't you just love it when sorry negroes get their come-uppance? I'm gonna come back to this later, but read about it here.

Triflin' Ass Bastard Award: Black Couple Loses Extreme Makeover Home After Taking out 450K Loan to Start Construction "Bidness"!

File this one under the "always looking for a hand out category". Please excuse men while I attempt to wrap my mind around this story out of Metro Atlanta.

Apparently, the Harpers and their brood had fallen on hard times and their home fell into a state of irreparable damage. You know how the story goes, dad was a hard worker, but got down-sized, mom attempted to hold the family together by taking odd-jobs to make ends meet. If only someone would GIVE them the opportunity to succeed, to cut them a break - SURELY they would be able to "get on their feet".

Add the backing of a powerful TV network, a great production staff, and a few heart wrenching interviews about how hard and how unfair life is and VOILA! You have the makings of an excellent Extreme Makeover Home Edition episode.

Now let's get to this award I'm handing out to the Harpers. For starters, their existing home mortgage was paid off by ABC and the city in which they lived raised over 250K in cas for the Harpers and their children. In addition, a separate fund was created for home maintenance expenses and the entire home was out fitted with every modern amenity known to man, including top-of-the-line furnisings.

Because the newly constructed home was worth substantially more than their dilapidated old home AND their mortgage was completely paid by ABC, the Harpers retained full ownership of their home with 100% Equity. The harpers then used the home as collateral to secure a 450,000 DOLLAR LOAN to start a construcion business that FAILED. They also used the loan proceeds to buy cars, furs, and take trips. Sounds a little Chitlin' Eatin' doesn it?

The house is going to be auctioned off on August 5 as a result of foreclosure proceedings.

Why attempt to open a construction business, but in the several years that it took for your house to fall into disrepair, not have picked up a hammer and nails to fix your own god damned house!?!?!? Why?!?!?

I would be embarrassed like hell to have started a construction business, if I was so trifling and too damn lazy to fix my own damn house. That was a STUPID idea!!! That should have been a red flag for your sorry assess. You saw an opportunity and milked it and I don't feel sorry for you at all.

I hope your neighbors have the good sense NOT to throw any more money at your trifling azzes.

Soledad O'Brien: Why are you so God Damned Chitlin' Eatin'?

CNN - The Chitlin' NEWS Network sank to an all time low in my book tonight with the Negro in America miniseries.

In true Chitlin' eatin' fashion, the mulatto too asheamed to be a negro, Soledad captures all of the wonderful tidbits of what it means (in her bi-racial, irrational, white mind) to be black.

I still find it hard to believe that a person who has made it her life's work to avoid being classified as black, would have the ability to host such a segment.

CNN gets an F and so does Soledad.

I am seething as I write this, but I needed to get my knee jerk reaction out first.

F*CK YOU SOLEDAD, YOU DIZZY ASS! (Thanks for checking me on that focusedpurpose; you are indeed correct and I apologize.)

Amen.

Desensitization to Crime, Apathy, and No Snitching ... Unless There's a Monetary Reward

This morning I decided to take a stab at riding the Metrobus because I had to attend a meeting with a branch of the DC governement. After stopping at Starbucks for my usual Venti bull's eye (regular coffee with 3 shots of espresso), I boarded a bus heading in the direction of my final destination and overheard several people talking about the rash of weekend violence that claimed the life a 13 year-old in Washington, DC.

Now to put this child's senseless death into context and to discuss what I overheard, I think it's woth mentioning that the neighborhood in which the shooting occurred has been designated as a NSZ.

NSZs or Neighborhood Safety Zones are implemented in Washington, DC by the Police Department. Checkpoints are set up around a perimeter of the NSZ and police require all vehicular traffic to stop, identify their purpose for being in the neighborhood, and require drivers to have valid identification. In true DC reactionary, knee-jerk fashion the NSZ was implemented in a neighborhood that police had forgotten about until the rate of gun-related homicides began to increase exponentially. As a result the NSZs were announced, the residents of the NSZ complained and are suing the city (with the assistance of the ACLU) for violating their Civil and Constitutional rights.

I'm ambivalent about the efficacy of the NSZs because of a variety of factors, but since I do not live in a NSZ (yet... DC is GHETTO... all of it!), I can't necessarily sicount them completely.

As I listened intently to the conversations occurring during my semi-short bus ride I became enraged and then disgusted and then ashamed and then mortified. Apparently, people in DC are so accustomed to crime and lawlessness that fear isn't keeping them from engaging in crime prevention and community policing; apathy and opportunism are.

The 13 year-old boy was killed during a drive-by shooting in which his 23 year old cousing was the target. The 13 year old was visitng from Mobile , AL and was staying with his great-grandmother during her initial chemotherapy to treat her cancer. His mother was also shot but was not critically or seriously injured.

The animals who killed this 13 year old approached the grown cousin and said " wassup" then began to rain gunfire on the man on the boy. When the smoke cleared, the boy was fatally shot and the grown man still alive. The killers were never apprehended and the 23 year old isn't talking to police too much. a 50,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the punks responsible for the shooting and apparently that's not enough for the people on the bus to be motivated to "snitch" on someone.

Much to my chagrin, the excerpts below are parts of a conversation that burned in my mind as I began to think about writing this post.

Overheard:

"Chile Fiddy Thowsin!?!?! (with expression of incredulity for emphasis)" , "Dat ain't no munney ta git me tawlkin! Ah needs about Two hunnid befo' ah snitch!"

I looked in the direction of the man stupid enough to actually utter such nonsense and my facial expression radiated my disavowal, disapproval, and disbelief. As if random acts of murder, rape, and violence aren't enough, people now have to have an incentive to take pride in their community and actively engage in crime prevention.

Overheard:

"Yeah, Ah know whut you sayin' cuz my cuzzin was kilt ovah in Muhrilyn and dey ain't git nobody ta tawlk unteel dat munny got right."

I sighed as the conversation had just gone from bad to much worse. At this point the bus driver chimed in.

Overheard (from the bus driver):

"Well, Ah grew up in da hood, but Ah'm a big ole' SNITCH and Ah need dat fiddy thow! Ah wish ah knew sumthin'! Hell, I'll tell on you anyway if you doin' sumthin' wrong! Ah werk too hard to be scared in mah own damn house! Damn that!"

I SMILED. Then I began to join the conversation. I asked the man why a 13 year-old's life isn't priceless and why ANY reward money is necessary for anyone to do the right thing in the first place. He responded by telling me that he was just keeping it real and that he didn't want to be a snitch. I got off of the bus because I had reached my destinantion although I missed my stop because I was running my mouth.

It's okay for him to be an opportunist though and the sad thing about this whole sordid conversation was the fact that many people on the bus, all of whom were black, nodded in solidarity. Then I thought to myself, Is this why our communities and families remain broken? Have we become so jaded by crime that in order for us to do anything about it we have to expect some type of monetary compensation?

A while back, Gina McCauley coined a phrase, "immoral indifference" to describe Black Leadership's response to a brutal gang-rape that happened in Dunbar Village. A few month's ago I cross posted a piece by Professor Tracey of Aunt Jemima's Revenge about The Soul on Ice Effect on the lives of black women. While Professor Tracey's piece was specifically related to the lives of black women and children, it has implications and relevance to this discussion.

What a sad chapter we've reached in the annals of black life that makes us collectively, immorally indifferent to crime.

What would you do if you knew information about a crime?

White Flight has Ended and Negroes were too Stupid to Realize how it Happened

Conner Doherty of The Wall Street Journal, one of my favorite papers, wrote an interesting piece on the end of "White Flight" and the acceleration of gentrification in America's chocolate cities.

He describes how some blacks have adapted and how some are still struggling to remain a part of the urban fabric.

Read the full story here.

CNN PRESENTS: Black in America on July 23 and 24, 2008

This should be an extremely intersting series that I am looking forward to. I hope it's not as disappointing as Soledad's previous attempts at trying to explain blackness to Americans.

I was already turned off by that spoken word teaser about this series, but to be fair, I will watch it.

Black In America- A CNN Investigation-Airing July 23rd &24th
Uploaded by thatsfunny

This is probably one of the few times that I'll be glued to the television. Watch the teaser trailer and plan to tune in to CNN!

JESSE JACKSON, Sr.: Portrait of a Chitlin' Eatin' Negro

So I am sure that many of you who read this blog are aware that I am not a fan of the self-appointed, reverendish, media-whoring, negro leader types. It's not that I am anti-Christian or anti-black leadership, but rather, anti-status quo. Jesse Jackson represents the worst of Civil Rights Era rejects who are struggling to maintain relevance. Dr. William Jelani Cobb poignantly talks about this in his nationally syndicated column.

Although I told my blog sister, Professor Tracy at Aunt Jemima's Revenge, that I was going to refrain from posting about this, I'll have to take that lie back because Jesse Jackass, Sr. needs to be gotten together!

Obama gave a very stirring speech about black fatherhood on Father's Day at an Apostolic Church in Chicago that boasts 20,000 members. Unfortunately it was met with mixed reviews by blacks and whites alike. There were two principle arguments that people took to make their points.

One thought was, "Yes! Tell it like it T - I - is!"

The other thought was "Stop going all Bill Cosby on black people! You can't talk down to us in front of white people!"

My thought was "Yes, Barack... take some of these fools to task because the only time they think of fatherhood is while they are getting a nut after getting their dicks wet."

So why is Jesse Jackass the focus of this post? By now I am sure that you all have heard the story circling the internet, that "Jesse wants Obama's nuts". He chided the Illinois Senator for being condescending to amoral black people, specifically men. He also scolded the Senator and candidate for POTUS and got a little pissy with him because Obama stepped on his toes. Jesse Jackass, Sr. is a philandering, womanizing, hypocrite. Armed with a hard dick teeming with active sperm, he sired a bastard child with a black former UGA history professor (yes, she had a PhD and STILL CHOSE Jesse), Karin Stanford. Where is this child, Jesse?

Why are you conspicuously absent from this child's life? Why do you want Obama's nuts in your hand when you can't even hold on to your own?

To the chitlin eatin' negros credit, he immediately issued an apology, but to me, he still hasn't manned-up for it.

Instead of criticizing Obama for calling SOME black fathers out for being trifling, call yourself out for being the very man Obama was encouraging some men not to be.

I am not too sure that Obama's remarks were disparaging or embarrassing for black people because black folks know the truth. Sure, there are some great black fathers, but they are NOT in the majority.

Black households are still headed by single parents and those people, the majority of them are WOMEN. The men are absent.

Let's cut the bourgeoisie bullshit and own our problems so that we can create solutions. The first thing we can do as men is be RESPONSIBLE providers for ourselves and families. For black boys, let's become more involved in MENTORING them and engaging them in the rite of passage from boyhood to manhood, whatever that may be. Let's abandon the contrived, uber-sexual, ideal of black masculinity and teach our boys that it's okay to be married, partnered, or in a stable and loving relationship before trying to sow their oats. In cases where the traditional nuclear family isn't applicable, let's still teach men to be providers and protectors and define what that actually means.

For those of you concerned with how black folks calling other black folks out looks to white folks, I've got news for you. White people already know that black people, black men in particular, are fucking up royally. I don't think they even care because they are too busy trying to sanitize their own image.

What makes Obama's remarks resonate with so many people, even if they disagree with his approach, is the fact that Obama has the moral authority to make such statements and take such a stance. Jesse can't do it. Cosby can't do it and Al can't do it.

Criticize all you want, but that man has a point about black men needing to take on the onus of rearing, protecting, and providing for their families.

BLACK LIKE ME, YOU, AND US

I was perusing a post about Michelle Obama over at Gina's blog What About Our Daughters? and came across a comment written by someone name KIT (Keep It Trill). Here is the comment in its entirety:

Darker-complexioned blacks have always had a rougher time in this country. They
were the field hands while their lighter-skinned brothers and sisters got to
work in the shade of the slave-holder's house. This visceral hatred by many
whites of darker blacks contaminated our own community to some degree until this century, when we finally began seeing gorgeous dark women on music videos. Much of white America has not caught up with us. I often wonder if Michelle Obama was as light as her husband or looked like a Beyonce, they wouldn't be quite as crazy in their hatred.

This is also because she does not fit their Euro standard of beauty.If/when he gets elected, frequent exposure of Michelle will become normal to many of them and gradually these ones will accept her. Others will never accept a black couple in the White House even if they could restore the economy and bring peace to entire world. It's too threatening to their illusion of white supremacy.

Maybe some of their children won't be so ignorant.

The comment has some good merits, but stumbles at the start because of the fundamentally deficient assumption that "Field Negroes" somehow endured or more dehumanizing and harsh form of slavery than the "House Negroes". This irritates me to no end because it smacks of a litmus test for one's authenticity of blackness. For anyone who purports to be an aficionado of African American History or Black Studies, this is assumption understates the inherent wrong of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. I'll get back to this later, but I do want discuss the notion that blacks with light skin are treated better than blacks with dark skin, using the FN vs. HN ideal as the basis for that assumption.

In order for the the argument to be true from a philosophical perspective one would have to assume that all FN are dark skinned blacks and that all HN are light-skinned blacks. How would one be able to know this without thoroughly reviewing slave masters records to determine who was purchased, for what jobs, and after arriving at the plantation after "seasoning", assigned to what living quarters?

If it cannot be done, and we don't know this to be true, let's stop using this as a basis for the FN vs. HN argument.

Let's also look at the practice of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. According to Dr. Marimba Ani (Dona Richards), she coined the term Maafa or "widespread destruction" to describe the TAST. She made no distinctions among classes or colors of enslaved Africans because anyone stolen from Africa during the Maafa was subjected to equally abusive treatment by their white slave owners. Unless the practice drastically changed as enslaved Africans were delivered to the U.S., which I surmise that it didn't given our current racial climate, then the FN vs. HN argument is further negated.

With this in mind, I think it's historically accurate to say that regardless of one's complexion, if they were enslaved and black (not excluding the native indigenous people whose land was stolen from them, but for this argument they aren't relevant...yet), they were treated with disdain and disgust by the white people who owned them. The Field Negro may have had to work all day in the field, be beaten and abused, and in many cases killed, but does that automatically mean that the House Negro did not have to endure the same level of treatment? How about the rape, sodomy, pedophilia, destruction of family, psychological abuse, and overall ill treatment by the white woman because you're mulatto appearance is a constant reminder of her sexual inadequacy and her husband's wanton lust for black flesh? Does that sound like a less caustic form of forced labor and deprivation of freedom and dignity?

There's also the common misconception that the HN actually LIVED in the "big house" with the "Massa". This could not be further from the truth. Enslaved blacks were not considered people then and they were still some white person's property. They were forced to live in conditions as deplorable as the FN and in most cases they lived together. The HN ONLY worked IN AND cleaned the house. They didn't get to sip lemonade on the Veranda and regale Massa with tales of how they used to wrestle Lions and Tigers in the bush.

When I was about 13 years old I competed in a talent show by reciting a piece I had written called Black Is, Black Was, and Black Will Always Be. I won. However, the runner-up to my oratory was a team of two black girls who both wrote a short skit about what it meant to be black. The title of the play was called "Blackness in Your Soul". The skit was about 15 minutes long, but it was VERY powerful and so relevant to our color obsessesed culture. They were both slaves, one was the HN and the other the FN. When they compared each other's first hand accounts of their experiences as slaves, they cried and hugged each other. They also apologized for thinking one had it better or worse than the other.

I'll paraphrase one quote that I can remember (this was 20 years ago). It went like this, "Blackness is in your soul because don't you know that the darkest brother can sell you out when you fairest sister will give her life for you?"

My point is that the authenticity of one's blackness cannot be measured by one's phenotype. We are not a monolith. What makes us black is our collective, systematic oppression by white people. I am no less threatening to a white person as a light-skinned black man. They simply see me as part of a monolith. This thinking is dangerous and KIT talks about this in the rest of their comment and they do make some salient points. Conversely though, I am left to wonder if they truly believe that because my skin may be slightly lighter than theirs that it makes me less likely to experience the hell that all black people have gone through.

Light, Dark, Brown, Pecan, Caramel, Burnt Sienna, Red... we are ALL black and for that, I am proud, unapologetic, and most important of all, unashamed.

DC HANDGUN BAN DECISION IMMINENT

As Washington, DC braces for one of the most pivotal and defining moments of the Supreme Court this year, I am left to wonder how the rest of the country will react.

As many of you are aware, DC has one of the most restrictive handgun bans in the country and petitioned a challenge of that ban all the way to the Supreme Court. I was present for oral arguments in March and I don't think the ban passes constitutional muster.

Since the last day of the High Court's term is today, I expect the decision to be handed out soon. I'll post the .pdf here if I can get access to it.

The Obligatory Post: Having too Many Things to say and no Time to Develop Them Properly

Blogging has turned out to be a little more significant than I had initially thought it would be. I just KNEW that I had tons of things to say and that I was going to be posting everyday to keep up with current events and in some cases, vent and bitch about my frustrations with the world and my existence in it. I typically ebb and flow this way; I am completely motivated and focused at the beginning of a project and I perform exceptionally well - exceeding my own expectations [which almost always seem to be abnormally high] and then becoming almost lethargic at the lack of a definite end in sight [because of the amount of work that goes into completing a project]. When I started to blog it was because I wanted to hone my writing and off-the-cuff critical thinking skills. Now, because of work obligations, personal struggles, and other factors, I am lucky if I can actually write a decent piece every 2 weeks or so. I have several pieces that I've started, but refused to publish because I couldn't develop the arguments in a balanced manner. This was not due to lack of trying though; I simply could not find the evidence needed to provide both sides of the story.

Again, blogging takes time. Most of my better pieces were written in knee jerk fashion, but were refined before publishing because I had put in the time to carefully research what I wrote about. I'm also not at a shortage for topics either, because so much awful shit is happening at one time that I didn't want to turn my blog into a CNN or FoxNews internet "Cliff Notes" brochure. So, I have decided to write about things that I feel passionately about and in the coming weeks and months that should be evidenced by my writings. If you feel as though there are things you'd like for me to discuss, email me through my blog. I'll leave this as an open thread so that way anything and everything can be discussed without folks feeling as though we're straying from a specific topic.

Start of the Podcast

I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting a great person through this blog who lives in also Washington, DC. We are in the beginning stages of starting a podcast that I am going to host in conjunction with this blog. I'm still looking for a title and I'm sure that my muse is just waiting inundate me with ideas for shows. I still need a name for my show, besides BLKSeaGoat's Rambling Rant. You will also hear from some of my blog sisters Like SheCodes, Symphony, Professor Tracey, and AttorneyMom, as well as others, as I begin my foray in the web based radio. So, if you email me a decent name for a show, there's a 25.00 Starbucks gift card in it for you! *LOL*

DC Law School Forum

I attended the Law School forum to get mentally prepared to re-enter the application process as the last two years have been major distractions. I was not ready two years ago to return to academia and I'm certainly not ready now. However, I recognize that it MUST be done because I still have a fire burning inside of me that's compelling me to take this road. It has been kismet and cathartic at times, because no matter how far I've tried to get away from it, I feel it as my calling. I am particularly gifted at very effective advocacy and having a legal education will only enhance that gift. The only thing standing in my way at this point is , well, ... ME. The forum was great and, at least in the short term, will provide me with a consistent reminder that I have got to get crackin'!

So blogosphere, what say ya'll?

Mildred Braeburn: Rest In Peace for Sticking to Your Principles

Heads Up to Symphony over at Essential Presence for keeping the plight of black women at the forefront.

I am disgusted all over again. Today, Mildred Braeburn an 18 year old young lady from Central Florida was supposed to be celebrating graduating from High School and moving forward with her life. She and her friends should have been making plans to go see Sex And The City, Hulk, Iron Man or some other summer blockbuster movie that most young people plan to see as a group.

She should have been enjoying her last free summer as the road ahead would be occupied with college applications, internships, summer jobs, and puppy love.

Instead, she's dead. She died because she refused to be treated as an object or another notch in the belt of a worthless thug.

According to several news media and blogs, Mildred Braeburn was shot because she refused to be harassed by a group of hoodrats packed in a vehicle who wanted her phone number.

Instead of calling her names and resorting to the "You were ugly anyway" strategy to save face in front of their "boys", one of these pieces of garbage decided to shoot her. She spent a few weeks in a coma and actually passed away last night. You may read more about Mildred by visiting Essential Presence.

Again, I am disgusted. I am also embarrassed, hurt and disappointed. Black men, we have got to do better. At what point did we become amoral and so narcissistic that our collective ego trumps our obligation to black women to be their protectors?

I realize the role that slavery, racism, colonialism and other factors have influenced how we relate to one another. However, I am not convinced that we are unable to change that influence and break the cycle of abuse that we, as black men, inflict upon black women.

I'm not being a chauvinist; I am aware that women are our equals. That's why it's so bewildering to me that treat them with such contempt. I say we as a collective. If you're a black man who is aware of his obligation to black women and you respect and cherish them, fine. We need more men like you. I would challenge you to encourage your brothers, our brothers, who may not have come this realization, to get it together.

We must change.

Black men, the time for excuses has ended. We cannot expect anyone else to care for black women and we must be contrite and repentant of our indifference toward them. Black women have done nothing except exercise an extraordinary amount of patience in their dealings with us. We OWE them that much.

As one of my blog sisters pointed out, "black men have a lot of soul searching to do". I agree. I just hope that during the period of introspection that we can find wholeness. I don't see that right now.

If anyone recognizes the men in the illustrations above please contact Orlando Police Department or CRIMELINE at 1-800-423-TIPS. Callers may remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward up to $5000

From Symphony's post:

Again, if the people who know who these men are don't come forward then the
"Black community" is doomed. I don't want to hear about White people, rich
people, the police or the government. Men and women, old and young know who
these men are.

Rest in peace, Mildred Braeburn

THIS JUST IN!!! AP REPORTS THAT OBAMA JUST EFFECTIVELY CLINCHED NOMINATION!!!!

Good afternoon everyone,

AP reports that Barack Obama has effectively clinched the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States.

More to follow...

Why Being a Black Comes First: White Woman Clutches Purse at Sight of 6 Black Gay Men

So......

During Memorial Day Weekend in Washington, DC tens of thousands of Black Gay Men and Women come to the city to celebrate Black Gay Pride and have been doing so for the last 18 years. When I feel I can do it the justice it deserves, I'll write a post documenting the history of Black Gay Prides and how many of the celebrations evolved because we were excluded from clubs and bars in the white gay community.

Anyway, I left a bar called the Fireplace in DuPont Circle after hanging out with a few friends. We were all laughing and joking and having a goodtime when one of us got hungry and decided we would grab something to eat before hitting the next club. As luck would have it one of the BEST places in DC to get a gyro, falafel sandwich, or other middle eastern cuisine is approximately 2 blocks east of the FirePlace, so we began to make a liesurely stroll down the street, still laughing and joking.

We arrive at the restaurant and wait for the rest of the group out front. As we are deciding what to do next I notice that there's a white coulple sitting at one table and a white woman sitting at a table adjacent to the line where we order food. 2 white men walk in ahead of us then 2 more. They are just as obnoxious and loud as drunk white people can be, but we ignore them because we know they've been partying. No big problem there... It's a holiday! Have fun!

When we entered the restaurant to order our food (there was a total of 6 of us), Single White Female nearly has a damn aneurysm, snatches her open purse off of a table that was actually BEHIND her, shuts it quickly and clutches it for dear life! She then looks at us, buries her head into her food, and then slips out her cell phone to begin making a phone call to someone. I'm sure she was calling another SWF to talk to them about how she'd just had a close call with some negroes and how she just didn't feel safe. She looks up again and by that time I had walked over to her to ask her why she gathered up her things with the quickness after several black men walked into a restaurant.

She was speechless.

I then asked her, "Did you actually think someone was going to harm you or steal something from you? Are you aware that you have NOTHING in your fake Gucci bag that I, or any of these other men can't buy? No one wants you more than you want yourself and I REALLY need for you to understand that." She responded after turning BEET red and explained that her reaction had nothing to do with us walking in but everything to do with how absent minded she was. She was a liar. I quickly got her together because I told her how I notcied how she wasn't too concerned about her personal items when the loud, drunk, white men walked in, but she was all too concerned when we walked in. She attempted to apologize and started CRYING!!! By this time SWF must have been asking her if she was okay because she kept saying that she was alright.

Too funny!

If a gay black man can't walk around DuPont Circle without having a white woman clutch her fake purse, where can he walk?

When Liberal White Folks Go Crazy!! Michele Obama: Target practice for the Left AND Right

Nothing irritates me more than to listen to liberal white people lament about their lot in life and how they can sympathize with me, a gay black man, for being so disenfranchised. Very rarely will I exert any energy to engage them in conversation because the end result for me will be further contempt for them.

In an effort not to ANNIHILATE their idealistic little world of "off-whiteness" I'll let much of the ignorant shit that comes out of their mouths (and evidence of what's in their heads) slide. However, when I reach my limit I have to draw a line in the sand just to educate them on the fact that we are NOT the same because I get no direct benefit from the White Power Structure that keeps them in power. If white people are feeling oppressed, I can assure you it is only a symbolic oppression at best. Cognitively, white folks can feel as oppressed and marginalized as they want to as their ideal, but the reality is that they benefit from being white no matter their station, class, or socio-econimic level. The dissonance between the ideal an the real allows for them to be as dysfunctional as they want with no real repercussions for their actions. The system works and has worked for the past several centuries.

Look at the picture above. Isn't it provocative? Doesn't it push the envelope? Really drives a point home to you, doesn't it? The underlying concepts may be a bit more difficult to see, but for me they were quite apparent. The photo was created by ONECITIZEN over at the blog The DailyKos to illustrate the GOP's horrible treatment of Michelle Obama. While I can understand what point OneCitizen was trying to make, I HAVE to call into question the methods used to make that point.

Let's look at the picture more closely.

Why is Michelle Obama dressed in a skimpy red gown looking like a Lady of the evening?

Analysis: The hypersexualization of the black woman is a vestige from the Trans-Atlantic (Western) Slave Trade by which racism became the by-product. She is not a human being or even a woman for that matter. She is simply an object to be admired, reviled, raped, killed, and then immortalized as a wanton sexual goddess. Remember Saarjie Baartmann, the Hottentot Venus? Saarjie was never considered a person and even after her death from years of rape, abuse, and neglect at the hands of the white men who enslaved her and paraded her around as a circus freak, she saw no peace in death either. Post-mortem (or knowing how vile white doctors were to black bodies back them) she had her genitals, skull, and other body parts removed, preserved in formaldehyde and paraffin, and then placed on display in France. She died in the 1800s, but had not been given a proper burial until her body parts were returned to her Khosian descendants in South Africa during the early 21st Century.

Why is racism purportedly limited to the South? Are white northerners incapable of being racist?

Analysis: It's not that white northerners can't be as racist as southern people; Southerners and some Northerners just have tendency to be more transparent about it. The last time I checked the election, Hillary Clinton, her husband "Slick Willie", and Gerry "He's so lucky, cuz he's a colored" Ferraro, were doing this kind of psycho-political lynching and they consider themselves the collective poster child of white liberalism. So what point could ONECITIZEN have been trying to make? White racism knows no limits or regions; its pervasive and as American as Apple Pie!

*SIGH* I think that the time has come to be a little less tolerant of things that I allow to slide because things like this happen. Something in ONECITIZEN'S white mind compelled him to make this picture because he thought it was right. Too often, white liberals become too comfortable and it is up to us to check them for their foolishness.

What say you?

When Chitlin' Eatin' Negroes Turn on Each Other: Day-Twat Council Files to Remove Kay-Kay Da Pimp

As if! I mean, how can anyone with a minutia of common sense not have arrived at this conclusion BEFORE re-electing Chitlin Eatin' Negro Extraordinaire??!?!? WTF! It seems that the City Council members have had enough and they have finally had the balls to introduce proceedings calling for the Kwame's removal from office.

Citing conduct, among other reasons for such drastic actions, the Council appears ready to debate the measure to bring it to a vote soon. I am sure that Monica Conyers will have here vaseline ready and Barbara Rose Collins will sharpen the edges of her Tiara just in case she has to "shank" a negro. Can't you just see her bending the tiara into a boomerang and throwing it at someone? Chitlin' Eatin Negroes stick together; they are RIDE or DIE!!!

Well, I guess it is some consolation to know that if the council is successful, he'll be thrown out on his ass quicker than he can text Christine Beatty for some coochie.

I love seeing dysfunction in action!!!!

My Appreciation for my Mother

So the second Sunday in May is typically referred to as Mother's Day. I normally don't go all out for it because we weren't raised that way. I mean, we did the customary stuff - dinner, cards, flowers, the "mother's ring" with all of the birthstones representing each of the children (there are seven of us). Somehow, it all seemed so meaningless because my mother is my mother everyday and has been for the last 32 years of my life and will continue to be. We are ridiculously close, very similar in temperament, and we are both witty and sarcastic. My mother's sense of humor is absolutely wonderful!

My mother also raised me with an extraordinary sense of self-confidence and independence. Even when things were lean and we didn't have much, my mother had hope and passed that hope on to all of us, but seemed to give me a little extra. I know it had nothing to do with me being a male child, but more to do with the fact that my mother sees so much of herself in me.

So today, my dedication will be to my mother, Sandra. You are my friend, touchstone, confidant, cheerleader, advisor, psychiatrist, therapist, relationship counseler, career advisor, political pundit, nurturer, protector, inspiration, teacher, and leader. Thank you for being who you are and never changing for anyone or anything. I love, appreciate, and admire you.

You're one hell of a woman and I can only hope to be one hell of a son!

Happy Mother's Day!

Readers: Feel free to include your own sentiments about your own mother's here.

Mental Illness Costs the US Nearly 200B dollars in lost Productivity

I thought this was a pretty interesting story given that Mental Health is both under-diagnosed and treatment under-funded.

Mental Illness Costs U.S. Billions in Lost Earnings

13 minutes ago

THURSDAY, May 8 (HealthDay News) -- Serious mental illness costs Americans
at least $193 billion a year in lost earnings alone, a new report shows.

The study broadly defines mood and anxiety disorders that greatly limit a person's
ability to function for at least 30 days a year, including instances of any
condition linked to suicidal behaviors or frequent violent acts, as serious
mental illness (SMI).

"Lost earning potential, costs associated with
treating coexisting conditions, Social Security payments, homelessness and
incarceration are just some of the indirect costs associated with mental
illnesses that have been difficult to quantify," Dr. Thomas R. Insel, director
of the National Institute of Mental Health, said in a prepared statement. "This
study shows us that just one source of these indirect costs is staggeringly
high."

Insel's agency funded the study. The results were published in the May
issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry.

The researchers analyzed 2002 data collected from a nationally representative study of almost 5,000 Americans, aged 18 to 64, to determine earnings lost in the year prior to the survey. They found that respondents with SMI reported receiving about 40 percent less in earnings than those without serious mental disorders, who earned an average
$38,852.

Researchers arrived at the $193.2 billion figure by extrapolating these results to the general population. They figured most of this comes from the lessened amount of income people with SMI were likely to earn, while the rest of the loss comes from the increased odds that their mental state would prevent them from having any earnings at all.

"The results of this study confirm the belief that mental disorders contribute to enormous losses of human productivity," lead researcher Ronald C. Kessler, of Harvard University, said in a prepared statement. "Yet this estimate is probably conservative, because the [survey used] did not assess people in hospitals or prisons, and included very few participants with autism, schizophrenia or other chronic illnesses that are known to greatly affect a person's ability to work. The actual costs are probably higher that what we have estimated."

More information The U.S. Surgeon General has more about mental illness.
Copyright © 2008 HealthDay.

Day-Twat, MI!! HOME of the CHITLIN' EATING NEGRO!!!

Okay, so I just HAD to post this picture of Detroit City Councilmember and Mrs. Chitlin' Eatin' Negro Senior 2008, Barbabra Rose-Collins. File this one under the heading WTF were you thinking? Who shows up to a COUNCIL MEETING TO CONDUCT CITY BUSINESS looking like a prom queen reject?

I mean, to be fair it WAS her birthday and I'm all for black queens being celebrated, but dayum! Why the Tiara? Why the butter yellow, sateen dress? Couldn't she have gotten the same attention in a nice St. John 2 piece, with Chanel slingbacks, and a COGIC Easter hat??

Motor City residents you have two choices: FLEE or get rid of the "chitlin' eatin" negroes who run your city. You all give me a great cackle EVERYTIME I need one!

(Laughing Hysterically)