Stop Lying

Barack Obama is NOT God.
(Or the Messiah, or the Anti-Christ, or Superman, Or...whatever.)
And speaking against his policies does NOT make one a Sell-Out.
Honestly speaking, his term in office is too short to tell the effectiveness of his policies.


But what else do we lie about?

I have a group of cousins who always seem to speak a bit too loud.
When I noticed that their mother had lost most of her hearing by not wearing her protective earplugs over years of working at a local refinery - the situations made sense.
The grandmother was old and a little hard of hearing.
One of the children also had a hearing problem.
One of the grandchildren was born premature and failed to fully develop his ability to hear.
In this household, everyone had to be loud.
Being loud became their normal.
But when I asked them to get their hearing checked - they declined for fear of appearing handicapped.
But the thing is; the fear of appearing handicapped actually caused a problem of being handicapped.

But the bigger problem was in the child who was born premature.
Preemies usually have developmental problems and learning disabilities.
When I would help the kid with his homework, he had problems focusing.
Ritalin was their answer - ADD was the problem. (Imagine the shame of a family having a mildly retarded child.)
The kid may have been ADD, but the codling and excuse making of the family wasn't the solution.

Every year, the kid would have problems passing his classes at school and his teachers had to be begged to let the him advance to the next grade level.
Every year, his teachers would relent.
When I recommended remediation - the family declined for fear of the kid appearing slow of wits.
The kid never should have graduated from high school.
His level of comprehension in standard subjects is that of a sixth grader.
So their response to the fear of the kid appearing dumb... actually caused the kid to be dumb.

Their lying about their situations (calling that which is bad - 'good') actually made their situations worse.

Kia Malone (The Daily Buzz), Sherry Sheperd (The View) or Mo'Nique are NOT sexy.

IMO - They are almost beastly.

They are not good examples of African-American beauty.

Alan Keyes is NOT the Right's smart answer to Barack Obama.

Ray Nagin, Marion Barry or Kwame Kilpatrick may dress like Night Daddies - But they are NOT competent.

(Why do we often re-elect incompetent officials? Because they are Black?)

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton may have once been able to make a difference - But they are NOT relevant.

Clarence Thomas is NOT progress.

Maybe we should stop trying to protect other Black people just because they are Black.

Maybe we should be honest and call that which is bad "Bad" - and then maybe we will have better examples of that which is good.

I Had To Laugh

Most everyone has seen the YouTube post with young Israelis who were angered over Barack Obama's recent visit to the Arab countries of the Middle East.
http://livesteez.com/watch/aadefV/Israeli-and-Jewish-People-Hate-Obama
After the killing of a Black guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. by James Von Bruun - I would love to ask the guy at 0:53 if this is what he meant by, "White power. Fuck the Nigger(S)."
Maybe the young Jewish kids and the Aryan Brotherhood are finally working together.
Or the guy who said that Obama should be shot (earlier in the clip) - maybe Mr. Von Bruun thought that all Blacks look alike.

And then the news shows a 72 year old woman being tasered by Texas police officers.
And she wasn't even Black.
(IMO - Many police officers are cowards who hide behind their weapons)

Owning The Hood

"Ownership" is a thing whose value is sometimes overrated.
Take rental property as an example.
Let's say that you own a neighborhood outright and have a sense of empathy towards your tenants.
Let's say that you decide to charge one or two hundred dollars a month in rent (or no rent in cases of extreme hardship) to people who are having a hard time getting ahead in life.

Regardless of the town, county or state - there are costs associated with owning property.
Taxes (even on the most humble homes - and even when the properties are listed in other peoples names to take advantage of the state's lenient Homestead Tax Discounts.), insurance and repair/maintenance costs would dictate that the usual rent would be closer to five hundred dollars a month [$3,000 ownership costs ($1,500 taxes, $800 insurance and $700 yearly repair/maintenance costs) divided by twelve ($250) and then doubled ($500)].
So, if you charge $200 a month - you are paying $600 a year for someone to live in your homes.
At $100 a month - you are paying $1,800 a year for someone to live in your homes.

Now let's say that a hurricane comes along and does about $4,000 in damage to most of your houses.
The tenants receive financial aid from FEMA, The Red Cross and local charities.
The owner is stuck to make repairs from his own pocket, because there is a $5,000 deductible on each insurance policy.
(Or because the insurance companies are so financially obligated to so many people - they decide to disallow many of the items for which your policy states you are covered.)
Since too much property is owned - FEMA the SBA and other agencies decide that the owner has the resources to make any repairs on his own and decline to offer any assistance.
But the properties must be repaired to be able to charge any tenant any amount of rent.

So who is better off?
The renter - who has no responsibility but who qualifies for financial aid.
Or the owner - who has all of the responsibility but is stuck paying money after the storm?

If someone advises you to "Own" your house - think about it - you may be better off renting.

Owning The Hood

Some people resent artists like Elvis Presley for taking what was once considered "Black culture" and repackaging it and selling it to a wider audience as a new American invention.
Many of these same people are the ones who complain about Asians, Indians or Arabs coming into a majority Black areas and opening up a nail shop or corner store.

But owning what was once thought of as Black culture isn't being racist, it's just smart.
It's just understanding that there is an under-served market.
It's just doing what the indigenous people should have done.
No one owns the hood brand.

That is until entrepreneurs like Master P or Too Short (or Barry Gordy with MoTown - a generation earlier) came along decided to brand their image (and that of their surroundings) into a product that could be sold to an audience outside of their own neighborhoods.
These men understood the value of the lifestyle they were living.
These men took what they knew and translated that into a product/brand that they could control.



Now Gatorade is putting the ownership of the hood (or hood imagery) back into the hands of corporate America.
"That's 'G'" takes on a whole new meaning.

Raising The Average

The 'average' American family is viewed as being the same - but different based on race.
Both the Happy Days and the Family Matters families would be seen as middle-class by most Americans today.
Both families stress education, hard work and possess a two-parent family unit.
Both models stress the parent's active involvement in the lives of their children.

But a Cosby model is seen as out of reach and unrealistic by most Blacks - and as a fantasy ideal by most whites.

But the distance from the Cunninghams and the Winslows to the Cosbys isn't really that much of a leap.

The first goal in establishing a more solid Black society should be first to establish a more solid Black family model.
From this two-parent foundation - the CHANCES of producing more Cosby-like offspring will increase.

If the "Average" increases from the middle and then outward - the strength of the whole will increase.

(Putting too much weight on one end or the other throws the whole system out of balance.)

IMO - We should stop focusing on the bottom or top ten percent, and instead focus on building a stronger core.

Raising The Average

Almost everyone has seen the story of the kid who stole his grandmama's car and just went ridin'.
The kid said that he wanted to "do hoodrat stuff".

Sure, the 'hood (or trailer park) is a valid lifestyle - it's just not desirable (by most).

Raising The Average

Sure, both lifestyles are desirable - but they're not sustainable.

(Hey, I have the same jacket as Bernie.

I don't like it, it feels greasy to the touch.)

Quality Of Life

First check out;
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105068620
(Thanks SeeNew)

Is Utopia even possible?
Or is it even desirable?
What is Utopia for one group is usually a living hell for another.
The above lifestyle can only be accomplished by another group having to be subjugated.
There is a need to have workers and those who will enjoy the fruits of another man's labors.
Not everyone can be millionaires - otherwise the economy based on money becomes worthless.
And this is seen as "progress".

Or we could use a modern Japanese village model.
No mega-plex movie theatres, no malls, no dependence upon more than we can produce.
Balance.

But how many people (already used to the comforts of our modern society) would choose this lifestyle?
Is it easy to force this lifestyle on those with control over the armies to fight against it?
Or is it easier to fight against this lifestyle with the tools of modern society?

Mr Ford's mistake in Brazil, Hannibal's mistake during the Punic wars, George Bush's mistake in the Middle East, and my own mistake in dealing with my tenants - was in overestimating the value of "strength" - and underestimating the value of each man's (or culture's) desires.

If the man, country, culture or any group is not ready to make the changes - the changes can't be made.
And when the choice comes down to doing what is best and doing what is comfortable - comfort usually wins.

Burning Down The House

The thing that struck me about the L.A. riots after the Rodney King verdict was how foolish these people were.
On the first night, I drove around the area with a girl who looked like Angela Bassett - getting a few thumbs-up from the native Angelinos.
People would just look in your car and somehow issue an emergency "Ghetto Pass" for that day only.
By the time I made it to my cousin's house (near Raymond and Alondra), the nearby streets were on fire.
But how wise was it to burn down the businesses on which you rely?
How wise is it to tear down what you have no ability to replace?
Who suffered worse - those who were being protested (Well... maybe Reginald Denny) or those who were doing the protesting?
Whose quality of life improved?