I Get It

 Actually, I've always hated the limited value many Blacks placed on their history, culture and even  themselves.
I hated that many Blacks would still identify more with slaves than those who fought against oppression.

(People still trip that we maintain a small patch of cotton on the family farm.
During summers, my father would join family members in picking cotton to take to market so that they could buy school clothes and supplies.
(I picked one piece, just once, so that I could say that I had picked cotton.)
But these were/are family farms in Louisiana - most were/are owned by the Black inhabitants.
Picking cotton was a necessary chore required to generate income.
There was no shame in picking cotton.
And just because I had actually picked cotton - I was never a slave.)

No,
one movie cannot solve the inferiority-complex many Blacks seem to have nor will it change the minds of those who still imagine that Zipporah looked like Yvonne de Carlo in The Ten Commandments.
But Black Panther is a step in the right direction.

I had to laugh when Atlanta's Hartsfield  jokingly posted departure times leaving for Wakanda.
But at least it wasn't Soul Plane.

Black Panther may just be the right movie at the right time.

The Black Power/Civil Rights movement, the belief in The Talented Tenth, Nat Turner and as far back as (and before) Chrispus Attucks - there have been Black men of volition who wanted better for themselves and others like them.

Actually, I like the vernacular fashion in the film.

We've come a long way from Zumunda to Wakanda - from the jewelry that looked like they raided the fancy cheese section at their local Gelson's in Coming to America to the more historically correct costumes in BP

BP shows this generation that one does not have to be unattractive, fat or coonish in order to be smart.

Shuri is a smart, clever (not cartoonishly silly), attractive and she could probably still kick your ass.

In the age of Neil Degrasse Tyson, there is no need to portray Black nerds as Urkel. (Well, Degrasse Tyson does kind-of come across as a grown up Urkel.).

I'm sure there are plenty of smart Black people who can still throw them hands (yet still be likeable).

Black on Black crime?
Nah, man.
The fight between Kilmonger and BP was over ideas/ideals not over drugs, hoes or a dice game.

Honestly, I'm more of a Silver Surfer fan than one of the Black Panther.

Sure, I like that BP possessed enough foresight to excuse himself from Marvel's Illuminati.

But I never identified with him.

While he wasn't a former pimp, drug dealer or criminal - his story wasn't my story.

I was influenced by the real Black Panthers whose ideologies seemed more in line with Kilmonger's beliefs.

'Woke'? Ninja-please.

Most of y'all should never have slept through school and you'd possess the requisite pool of knowledge required to defend your beliefs beyond the memes and tropes put forth on facebook and YouTube posts.

We were inculcated with the belief in #blackexcellence not the belief in thinking that mediocrity was the same thing.

And I get it.

Baby steps.

There are still many who believe that the Cosby Show was a 'white' show starring Black actors.

There are many who believe that if it's made/owned by whites that it must be superior.

I get that all the hashtags give you the feeling of actually accomplishing something - that you make a difference.

I get that many of you feel the need to live vicariously through celebrities and fictional characters in order to feel empowered.

I get that most support Kaepernick but that they still work for companies which have worse historical practices concerning race than does the NFL - yet they won't forgo their paychecks.

I get that Black Panther (Like 'Django'.) gives many pride in their being beyond that of being servants, criminals or slaves.

I get that most dumb people have smart phones and most of their real history is just a few clicks away.

I get that BP is not reduced to a sidekick, a Magical Negro nor does he benefit from a White Savior.

I get that this fictional character is, for many, the first time they have seen a Black person being viewed as an equal (See: Black Panther in Marvel's Illuminati).

Proverbs 23:7 states,

'For as he thinks in his heart, so is he'.

I get that many thought they weren't shit so they proved themselves correct.

I get that most are surrounded by negativity so it's become the expected outcome.

I get that most lack the faith required to do the work that is required to create a real and lasting change.

But it has to start somewhere, 

and my hope is that BP is the seed that will develop into the realization that we can do better.

I Hate Duke

 Back in the day, I was a fan of the UNLV Running Rebels and the Georgetown Hoyas - Duke beat them both.

Duke is a school and team that's easy for a suburban Black kid to hate.
Okay. maybe 'resent' would be a better word.
'Envy' might even be the most accurate word.
Privileged kids going to an elite school who still manage to win?
It's easy to envy/resent/hate such kids which makes them easy to scapegoat.

After the circus of the rape hoax had died down, one of the accused made a statement about the broken judicial system and how that if even he and his equally 'privileged' teammates could be treated so poorly (even with all their money, resources, and whiteness), it must be even worse for poor urban kids who are wrongly accused.

The takeaway should not have been that white dudes are victims of an overly aggressive PC culture but that everyone is a victim of an unjust and inequitable judicial and enforcement system.

Which leads us to Bush/Obama and the abuse of policies which were the result of the Patriot Act.

I also hate Trump.

No, I don't resent nor envy him - I'm just not a fan.

And, no - not because of his wealth, his pretty wife (Don't Hate, she's not an ugly woman.) nor his fame.

I don't like the guy because he is a Last Man or even a Superfluous Man who is pretending to be an Uber Man (Ubermensch).

Did Trump actively seek to influence the last election in his favor in an illegal manner - probably not.

Is he an idiot for complaining about even the smallest slight on social media like a middle school girl - yes, it's indecorous, as POTUS it should all be beneath him.

His whole 'What about Hillary' and 'Obama did it too' are childish responses to adult problems.

Why can't he just take his licks like a man and go through the process the way the Duke 3 did?

Why can't he focus on how his predecessors abused and expanded their surveillance powers to the point that even a sitting POTUS (and those around him) can be harassed by those who are working for the Cathedral?

* Trump and his team will probably all end up going down for tax evasion or money laundering as a result of the Mueller investigation, and not any sort of collusion with Russia.

I just hope that before he goes that he will draw attention to and make changes to the way no one truly has any right to privacy.

Who Did it Better?

The Difference

As Eagles fans looted, rioted, vandalized and literally ate shit - the po-po seemed unbothered.
Sure, most of the perpetrators were working-class white dudes - the same dudes who seem to riot after hockey championships - but why did law enforcement respond with little more than a nod and wink?

Sure, burn things up to celebrate a sport which some choose to protest for 'political' reasons but don't dare protest anything that is actually political.

The thing is: protesting injustice is an attempt to change the system - rioting over an almost meaningless game (At least as far as most people's personal lives are concerned.) is supporting the same system.

Sports are intended to to distract the masses from things that actually matter.
As long as anger, jealousy, hatred and other emotion can be directed at entertainers, no one will pay attention to the deeds of either the Official Government nor the Permanent Govern.

As longs as the proles act and think like proles, the elites will remain safe in their roles in our plutocracy.

Hypertiger

 Maybe last week's Super Blue Blood Moon, highlighted with an eclipse, was an omen for Trump.

 Last Friday's 666 point drop on 2-2 would be almost doubled the following Monday.

 Then Trump supporter (And the only man who could rival The Donald for the number of idiotic statements made.) Pat Robertson suffered a stroke.

And then the Patriots lost the Superbowl to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Sure, yesterday's 1200 point drop in the Dow may be just a market correction but more than likely it is a sign that the investment bubble is about to collapse and time may be running out on the Trump presidency.

This Generation

I still hate nightclubs,
yet I'm still good at them.

I live in an area where most Blacks are first-generation members of the working to middle classes.
Well paying jobs at the local refineries and the relatively low cost of living here have led many to believe that they have 'made it' or even worse that they are 'rich'.

The area scores lower than most other cities across the nation in heath, education, culture, happiness and a host of other measures of one's quality of life.
Yet many young adults feel as though their adult lives will be as comfortable as their childhoods.

These are children who: never walked more than two blocks, never were cut from an athletic team at school (B and C teams are formed so that the less talented kids can still participate.), had academic standards lowered at their schools so that they could graduate, received participation trophies, were told by broke-assed and unaccomplished Hotep brothas that Black people invented everything and it was all stolen by the white man, were lied to by their parents who told them that they were as pretty as Beyonce when they really look like Leslie Jones, think that every undesirable interaction is 'bullying', and whose only desire is to be rich and famous.
No one ever taught them the social responsibilities that go along with wealth. (Not that most of their parents or grandparents would have known anyway.)

But back to these clubs.
Clubs are more work than most people imagine.
Clubs, for those working in them, are more work than they are fun.

I'm trying to get out of the club business.
I think I'd like to develop a curated shopping center similar to The Lab in Southern California.
The thing is, I'd like to teach and train the next generation of club owners.

My highest paying client is someone who made a little on the street and then bought a small trucking company.
He has taken his profits from his legitimate company and he now owns a nightclub.
He has hired a bunch of twenty-somethings who, to me, are lazy and undisciplined,
Most have to be told to stay off of their phones for personal reasons, to show up on time, to clean up their own messes, to never sit down while working the floor, to not eat behind the bar, and many other niceties one is usually taught at home.

'Are you raising your voice to me?', I calmly asked a DJ who refused to play a request from a customer unless he were tipped.
I went to the register, pulled out his nightly fee to pay him and asked him to never apply to work at any club in which I'm in any way involved.
'I'm an artist.', he said as he angrily packed his computers.
I had another DJ hired before the song that was queued had finished playing.

The club had girls who didn't know how to sweep?
Girls who didn't want to mess up their nails by washing glassware.
Guys who spent more time talking to girls than doing their jobs.
Girls whose tips were higher than their sales,...
They've all been fired without warnings.

The club owner is so frustrated that he wants to only hire white employees who know how to work.
He (A relatively young Black guy from the hood.) is beginning to believe all the stereotypes perpetuated by some about the poor quality of the Black hiring pool.

'Nah, man. You can train a dog, you can train a monkey - you should have no trouble training Black employees.', I said as I reminded him that I had to train his whole management staff even though most had past experiences in failed Black-owned clubs.

But I'm not sure.
Maybe I'm too old and tired to deal with entitled children who fail to understand the value of actually having to do the work in order to earn their reward.
Maybe this whole generation is just beyond me.

Sexy and 17

As a child, I remember hearing Maurice Chevallier singing 'Thank Heaven for Little Girls' and thinking, 'WTF?'.

These days (and within many circles) such a song would at least raise an eyebrow - unless you're Roy Moore and/or one of his supporters.
(But he lost his Senate seat and is no longer relevant so... moving on.)

Back to that song by the Stray Cats.
I was in high school when that song came out but I remember thinking, 'WTF?!'.
All the cool senior girls liked the song just fine but Bryan Setzer looked to me a bit too old to be dating high school aged girls.
It was the 80's and New Wave was in and the band was living in the UK and they had a different age of consent there so....
Legally I got it, but it just irked me when college guys would come to our high school to look for girls.
It just seemed kind-of creepy.

A few years earlier The Police had a minor hit with 'Don't Stand So Close to Me.'.
Nabocov novel aside, this song didn't seem as creepy.
Sting seemed to try to distance himself from a girl who had a crush on him - it happens.

But these songs have no excuse:

KROQ would play this catchy little ditty but the video was kinda' Catholic Priestish....
The Suburbs 'Music for Boys' seemed like a NAMBLA theme song.
Sure, I liked the song just fine but the cover for the twelve-inch and the video seemed a bit odd.

Then there is this - The Ultimate Creepy Song.
I liked Oingo Boingo and most of their albums.
Heck, I even liked this song.

Again, it was the 80's and Roman Polanski had been in the news for 'Tess' (Which starred a young Natasha Kinsky) so the idea of an old dude with a little girl kind of creeped me out.

The video for 'Little Girls' showcased little women so I never even thought of the song being about pedophilia until my older sister pointed out the meaning behind the lyrics.

This whole #MeToo thing is sometimes ridiculous - I won't even hug a woman at the clubs anymore for fear that they may say that I tried to grope them.
But judging by the songs from my youth - maybe there is something to it.

It Was Bound to Happen

 Church Martin has gotten the go-ahead to open his museum of Chicano Art in my hometown in the city's former central library.

I'm not a smoker and I always favored listening to Cheech and Chong's albums over watching their movies but a Chicano Art Museum in Southern California seems like an inevitable and natural fit.

Located next to the historic Mission Inn - it would seem to be an ideal location from which to draw maximum traffic.

Californians may now legally smoke recreational marijuana.
In a state thought to be liberal, many may have assumed that this would already be the case.
Weed and California go together like Cheech goes with Chong - they're a natural fit.

My only concern is the area's likelihood of wildfires.

Wildfires in California are as common as heat in the South or snow up North.

In other words...

Count on seeing news of many farms going up in smoke.

Double Standard

 Trump, Weinstein, Simmons, Lauher,.... and many others are in the entertainment industry where drinking, drugs and parties are common.
Maybe they're just used to being surrounded by party girls who willingly offer up the panocha just to say that they did.

Women who drink too much and then run up on a brotha'.
Women who'll grab a handful of meat as they drunkenly rub ones muscles.
Sure, they may say that they regret it later - even if they initiated the conversation and physical activity.
(And I'm not including situations when men aggressively force themselves upon women. To be honest, I won't even be alone with a woman who is obviously drunk.)

Believe it or not - NOT ALL WOMEN ARE FEMINISTS.
There are hoards of women who brag about the men they've bedded.
Are these women sluts?
Maybe.

Guys who sleep around are often viewed as being dominant, studs, a man's man.
Women who sleep around are thought of as being whores.
Is there a double-standard?
Sure.

I had a conversation with a cousin who found out that her ex had been with other men.
'He's gay', I said.
'What about women who have been with other women?', she asked.
'They were just 'experimenting'. There's a double-standard.', I replied.

Is this fair?
Sure, why not.
If one knows the rules of the game then they cannot complain later that they lost playing by the agreed upon rules.