pump the brakes on the auto-assumption

what this white priest illustrates very nicely for the public ... is that rev wright is not an american hater, a bigot, or a radical ...

i am sick with this AUTOMATIC ASSUMPTION that something is wrong with wright. it's one thing to have an opinion about wright. it's another thing for the media to speak about him as if EVERYONE has UNIVERSALLY agreed that wright is a hater, bigot, and a radical. there is no discussion at all about the content of his words as they are immediately dismissed. it's truly not that i am wright's biggest fan (i actually haven't even thought about my position on it) it's that the media is (once again) being LAZY and SIMPLEMINDED. which only influences the american public to be just as lazy.

hater, bigot, radical ... lazy, lazy, lazy ... some other dude wrote a great blog on this very topic and how if we take the time and effort to look at the content of rev wright's words ... there can be a more nuanced conclusion about rev wright. not all good ... but not ALL BAD (a.k.a. hater, bigot, radical).

sounds very HUMAN.

post-pennsylvanianism

i'm not afraid to admit it ... i was wrong. wrong, wrong about PA. i am just on this new new shit ... the love shit ... the thinking positive shit ...

it's funny cuz america sure is testing me ... especially with the post-pennsy tenor of this democratic primary ... the post-PA syndrome now has barack obama on the ropes ... and the media, with their power to frame the terms of the debate, is questioning obama's general electability ...

there's already a good blog on that.

cuz my blog is not here to prove whether it is happening or not - it is.

so, it didn't hurt me to think positive. my ego don't hurt and it aint even bruised. but, since PA, part of me is tempted to wash my hands. throw in the towel. and say fuck it and fuck you america. cuz america is showing it's ass again.

america is answering the question people loved asking at the start of this presidential race: IS AMERIKKKA READY FOR A BLACK PRESIDENT?

i refused then and i refuse now to answer this question. cuz i don't want what i say to come true. you can guess. i will only publicly state that i believe it could happen and only amerikkka can show us.

and she already showing signs of hesitation ... aint she? don't you just love this fucking country?

since PA the media has created a new narrative for obama ... how will he win white working class voters? or white rural centrists? or white evangelical factory managers? or white people who scratch their butt after a beer at the local bar? or white people, white people, white people ...

are those white people ready for a black president?

i am going to think positive. i am going to think ... you never know. i am not going to deny that there are bigots ... i am just praying and believing ... and in the meantime i'm calling out the media and any people who i think are a lil ... hard to love.

i must admit though while i won't admit defeat and capitulation to the bigots of america ... i am not so interested in this race anymore. i don't watch msnbc like i used to. fuck them :) i don't watch cnn. i don't watch no morning shows. i barely read the blogs anymore ... america is back to boring me with their racism.

cuz i already know that barack obama could win the general election. but in a post-pennsylvania world ... he now has to get there first.

pigs part two

instead of training cops ... we can train kids to deal with cops ... i have pasted a link to an article below ... about a bed-stuy non-profit, Project Re-Generation (PR-G), that is attempting to ease the divide between cops and young black people in black communities ... i support this non-profit because it's the shit ... but i also support this effort in general ... it is a prime example of a black person attacking the problems he sees in his neighborhood ... it is a prime example of how we take our own neighborhoods and youth back ... it is a prime example of how not to be discouraged when larger society and the rest of america fails us ... it is a prime example of how to take matters into our own hands - positively ... keep on brother shakur (barnabas that is) ... you can also check him and his works on the myspace ... god bless your efforts!

1. Last week PR-G and 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement did a Police confrontation workshop for the Rites Of Passage participants, for which there is a 5-minute video.

2. Writers from the NY Times were present and wrote a story on the workshop (two ROP participants were referenced).

pigs

i don't even really have the right words for the outcome of the sean bell case or his tragic death.

it's one of them things ... you either believe some cops are racist or you don't. you either know they dirty or you don't.

you can believe in your fairytales and nothing i write here can change your mind.

or you can believe the truth. the truth will stand.

when me and you are dead and buried the dna evidence might reveal the truth. or two generations from now we might find a cop's secret diary. or five generations from now we might actually clean up the police and the justice system and admit that many cops have been dirty.

yeah, maybe. and maybe barack obama will be president. maybe.

but for now ... justice and truth ... are as hard to find as a boyfriend.

and they wonder why WE bitter? and they wonder why we stopped snitching? and they wonder why we act like we can't get a fair shake in america? and they wonder why we hate cops? and they wonder why we hate america?

well, i don't hate america (anymore) cuz i won't let her take my soul the way she has with countless others (including cops).

but this ... this sean bell verdict ... this ... is one reason why.

david sirota wrote this one - not the kid

i find this blogger, david sirota, to be very smart. i think his arguments about a 'race chasm' are right on point. you can find more of his blogs on this topic at huffington post and other sites.

here is his latest blog in its entirety (even the update at the bottom):

David Sirota
Pennsylvania & the Persistence of the Race Chasm
Posted April 23, 2008 | 10:00 AM (EST)

A few weeks ago, I published an article in In These Times showing how Hillary Clinton has been winning states almost exclusively in the Race Chasm - states whose populations are more than 6 percent but less than 17 percent black. The results of the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania - a state whose demographics fall squarely in the Race Chasm - continue the trend.

I have hypothesized that the Race Chasm exists because of racial politics. Specifically, in states where there is almost no black population, black-white racial politics has little traction because it isn't part of the political dialect. In states where there is a very large black population, the black vote can offset a racially motivated white vote. But in the Race Chasm, the black vote is too small to offset a racially motivated white vote.

So how prevalent was race as a factor in voting in Pennsylvania? The exit polls suggest that when Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) previously said race would be a huge factor, he was absolutely correct. Specifically, page 4 and 5 of the CNN exit poll show a whopping 19 percent of Pennsylvania voters said race was an important factor in their vote, with Clinton winning almost 60 percent of that segment. Broken down further, 13 percent of the white vote said race was a major factor in their vote, with Clinton winning 75 percent of that group.

These are big numbers, especially considering the fact that these numbers only represent voters who are willing to admit to pollsters they are voting on race. The real number is probably much higher, because some voters may not want to disclose such taboo voting habits.

Let me reiterate something I wrote in my original Race Chasm analysis:

Clearly, race is not the only force moving votes. Demographic groups -- white, black or any other -- do not vote as monoliths. Additionally, the Race Chasm does not mean every white voter who votes against Obama nor every black voter who supports Obama is racially motivated.

However, considering the exit polling and the fact that Pennsylvania falls squarely in the demographic Race Chasm, it is clear that those who continue to pretend race is not a major factor in this campaign are deliberately averting their eyes from a very powerful force in the Democratic primary.

UPDATE: I should have added this into the original article. Some folks say that even discussing the Race Chasm is good or bad for one or another of the candidates in the primary or general election. That may or may not be true - but I don't really care. Political junkies tend to forget that the whole world does not revolve around the next election - and that yes - I know it's hard for some people to fathom - but some issues like racism are much bigger and more important than whatever election cycle we may be in. Racism is something that has been a part of American life for, oh, two centuries. If this presidential race is becoming a vehicle to talk about and confront and expose that racism, then that's a good thing - regardless of whichever candidates some think it may help or hurt.

poseur racista

the quote i pasted below represents a euro-centric worldview and the same attitude pat buchanan adopted prior to the pennsylvania primary. i am just amassing all the evidence for when i take america to court for being fucking racist.

from huffington post link http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-zogby/
ball-is-now-in-obamas-cou_b_98239.html:

"Make no mistake -- the Clinton win in Pennsylvania puts the burden of proof back on the shoulders of Obama, who must show white ethnic voters that he is worthy of their support. He did this effectively in Wisconsin earlier this year, and he must do it again in Indiana. They were evaluating him in Pennsylvania, and he closed the gap with Clinton in the week before the election, but he was unable to close the deal with them for the reasons I mentioned above."

what is wrong with white male voters?

the alternative title is: what is wrong with pat buchanan?

as i sit by my TV ... pat buchanan asks the question: what is wrong with barack obama (if he fails to win white male voters in PA)? WOW ... on so many levels i rush to express 14 different thoughts at once ...

let me start with the love struggle. when pat buchanan poses questions like these on NATIONAL television i want to rip his heart out - thereby voiding all opportunities to love pat because well, he would be a dead and heartless body lying on the floor. at which point i would buy a tee shirt saying I HEART PAT BUCHANAN. that would be easy. but how to love him while his ole ass is still alive???

sigh. i'm digging deep for compassion and here it goes: pat buchanan is simply a product of his environment and family and life experiences. he views the entire world through his own tailor-made-white-man-lens. he lives in his own dream. he is a husband and father ... probably a grandfather. he breathes just like me. he cries (i know he does!) just like me. he gets scared, nervous, and proud ... just like me.


sigh.

i guess i'm really mad that he has so much POWER. the kind of power where you can say your personal opinion and it gets carried into every home in america by msnbc airwaves ... the kind of power where you can say what you think and if it's controversial enough ... bbc, cspan, cnn, and the ny times will call your assistant to schedule an interview.

the power of posing the question.

it is real. it is very strong. it is why the media has so much POWER. even if the question is illegitimate i.e. is the bell curve book right - do black people genetically have a lower intellect? or what is wrong with barack obama (if he doesn't win white male voters in PA)? or do you love america more than your pastor reverend wright?

the power of posing the question ... is the power to frame the argument. it is the power to set the terms of the debate.

it would never occur to pat to pose the reverse question ... he makes an automatic assumption that the person who is wrong ... is barack. sure, candidates must win voters and not the other way around. ok. so?

why won't white males vote for obama? is there something obama must do or should we take a closer look at the voter? or maybe the question could have been: why isn't barack obama winning that contingency? is something wrong with those white men if they don't vote for him? why does anybody have to be WRONG? maybe there's a more nuanced and smart analysis of the situation.

but instead pat, in his infinite wisdom, suggests ... there is something ... WRONG - with barack obama.

nothing is wrong. not with barack. and not with white male voters. i'm tempted to say the only one wrong is PAT BUCHANAN ... but that would not be very loving ...

sigh. i am so tired of old racists who never step out of their old black, laced up shoes ... i am so tired of these white men who have the power to pose the question ... even as a black man marches towards the presidential nomination ...

i only hope ... the Lord's plan is to show america to itself and others ... to make us bleed so bad with this emotional poison ... that we are eventually purged, cleansed and purified in the fire ... but pat buchanan will never read this (cuz uh nobody reads this right now) ...

or will he? at this point (now having purged my own poision) ... i simply pray.

attitude

And a guy in a Phillies hat held the hand of his young child as he put his finger in my face and calmly told me, "If you think the niggers got attitudes now, wait till they get the White House."

-- from the Philadelphia City Paper

why i love bam bam!!!!

he's THAT dude!

debatable debacle

i have pasted below my favorite review of last night's 'presidential' debate. yeah, it was retarded and whether it was in fact a 'debate' is debatable. all these other bloggers are saying what i could say so i won't say it.

but what i haven't read anywhere is my racialized take on this 'debate' ... maybe cuz i'm blackety black black BLACK ... and crazy ... but ummm last night's 'prezidential debate' reminded me of what it's like to go to an all-white college and be the only black student in the class ... even if the prof is black or hindi or whatever ... many times THE black student has to prove why they are in the classroom ... your papers gotta be tighter, your analysis sharper, your questions more relevant, and grammar and diction clearly enunciated ... (at least if you buy into that bullshit)

... barack obama got dished with retarded ass questions (no offense to mentally disabled people - i am not talking about you) about how much his pastor LOVES america, and the weather underground ... because ... he is the only black kid in the class.

not that we mind! we used to it. and barack is the best at it.

here's what glenn greenwald had to say at salon.com ... and he provides links to other commentaries on last nite's debacle ... love yourself by informing yourself:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/04/17/debate/

jon stewart says it best

some favorite lines: 'changing the fundamentals of arithmetic' & 'the bigot swing vote'

strange trees bear bitter fruit

i am not a superdelegate.

i do not have a cable news show ... yet.

and america is the strange tree by the way.

but in my parent's living room in early, early april i declared that barack obama would win pennsylvania.

i got grandparents in KOP (king of prussia, PA) which is the home to the 2nd biggest mall in america. i used to live in philly ... does that make me an expert? well, what makes any of these pundits experts? i just got a gut feeling cuz what i know is that pennsy is not ohio ... thank God.

i got a gut feeling in the middle of hardball with chris matthews ... that obama would win PA.

who knows where it came from? but if i've learned anything after too many years of formal education it is that ... you must trust your gut.

and then the bitter battle blew up. and i thought: God works in mysterious ways.

cuz at first (on mid-Friday of april 11th) it seemed as if this bitter bullshit was gonna bite bam bam in the butt and cost him votes all throughout blue-collar america.

but it has not. my points below are going from least intelligent to most intelligent. the first point is the most obvious and the least profound and it kinda builds from there ... it's also going in order of the way people think ... people think about sensationalism first, and truth last ...

first off, clinton and mccain's "elitist" attacks are blowing up in their faces. ery body in blog-o-ville is already saying what most of america knows - they (mccain and clinton) are the elites of the elites! and it has also been revealed that senator hills' own husband made similar remarks to obama's.

second, obama was right. nuff said.

third, 2008 is not 1998 and it really aint 1984 (geraldine!). hillary clinton has been in a time warp throughout this entire campaign. she thinks red states are still red ... she thinks women can't appear human ... she thinks she has to pander ... she thinks she has to 'play the game' ... i don't uh blame her but i call a spade a spade - she's misreading the american landscape of TODAY, 2008 ... and now, she assumes that she can take the sexy words out of obama's mouth and stuff them down america's throat as if it was the total truth.

hillary clinton is having GOP flashbacks ... she's acting as if she is in a 1990's campaign. hillary thinks that the tactics republicans used so successfully against gore and so on will work against her own democratic rival. what she doesn't recognize is that obama is too smart and has elevated the conversational bar too high for that.

she's acting like the american people are not fed up with the iraq war - both parties ... she's acting like george w. bush gave idiocy, soundbites, and the republican party a good name ... i think g-dub innoculated america from nepotism ... america is now (post-9/11 and post-george w. bush) ready for some substance, real experience, and a whole lotta hope ...

fourth, the words are out of context (surprise surprise). never mind that obama said many words before and after the bitter quote ... i got a more balanced account of what was said and how it was said from someone else who was there (click this link to read it for yourself here : http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/david-coleman/ i-was-there-what-obama-re_b_96553.html).

turns out obama also talked about urban, large-city people in the same manner. what strikes me as HILLARIOUS is that mayhill fowler, who broke this story on huffingtonpost.com, had NOTHING to say about obama's critique of low-income city dwellers. i think it reveals fowler's own personal issues - like the fact that she is preoccupied with how SHE experiences america and this campaign - as evidenced in her other blogs. it also shows a lack of balanced journalism. sure, you can say obama said bitter this and bitter that ... but to be 'fair' and that is what journalism 'strives' to do she should also have said that obama did have comments about urban blight.

i'd love to see THOSE quotes - about how ghetto folk are self-destructive - thrown about on cnn, politico.com and the ny times in equal measure. but that would be too much like ... wright, right? that would mean that all the white newcasters would have to think about people who don't effect them ... they would have to stop worrying about how blue collar (code for WHITE) small town residents will be offended by obama. the majority-white media is stuck on these quotes because they feel that obama is talking about their FAMILY. they are also stuck in the same campaign paradigm as hillary which is so 2004. you know that pol talk i heard on meet the press this sunday: the democractic party always fails to reach the centrist southerner, the mid west miner ........ they are not so concerned about obama's prescriptions and sociological analysis of the majority of colored people who live in urban areas.

well, i'm still calling it. obama gonna take PA. both clinton and bam bam gave a speech in pennsy this morning of april 14th and both referenced obama's 'bitter' remarks. bam bam was met with applause and cheers. clinton got BOO-ed.

pennsylvania can smell bullshit a mile away. which is why my prediction will come true. oh, yes, it can.

the arrogance de-coded: get back to the back of the bus, darky

ya know ... i been reading articles from 'real' newspapers/magazines as well as less fancy blogs which are claiming that my main man, bam bam, is ... arrogant ... he is too self confident ... he jokingly compared himself to God in an off the cuff convo with morgan freeman ... ooooooooh we should tell his mama .... and he had the nerve to insinuate that ......... DRUMFUCKINGROLL ... he might be the next president of the united states of assholes ... sorry, i am sometimes guilty of being an asshole just like all of you ... we all have our moments ... and i am more often guilty of hating on america (i could never be an obama aide or sit next to him at church) ...

my translation: arrogance is doublespeak for ... "that black man is way too comfortable in his own skin and i have never encountered anything like that in my life and it's making me feel funny in my tummy" ...

many will refute, many will deny, many will decry ... first of all, i don't have to provide any links to the other articles cuz i am not a 'real' journalist, i have no budget, i report to no one but the Lord, and i don't get paid to write the truth as i see it! maybe i'm bitter about that ... but maybe these are the perks ... i also don't have to provide no psuedo- or otherwise scientific evidence for my anthro-psycho analysis ...

understand too ... that i am referring to any person who makes these claims bout bam bam - be they black, white or whatever ... you can be a colored person and still be racist ...

i have never for one moment had a feeling that obama was arrogant ... it's so retarded it's laughable except the claim is getting too much play in the public sphere ... i find bam bam QUIET, thoughtful, deliberate, and humble ... yes, yes, yes, he is confident ... but you had better be if you are a black man living in hawaii, indonesia, or the south side of chicago ... you had better be fucking confident if you are running for president ...

people simply have a problem with confident, unapologetic black men (and women - and i speak from experience here!) people simply are disturbed by a black man who is so sure of where he fits in this world ... people see so many black men asking for permission, or pandering to whitey, or acting violent to get some love ... even many young black students i work with ... don't know what it means to be black and entitled in white america ... even some black people i went to college with were not comfortable in white classrooms ...

a foreign-for-black-people-sense of entitlement is probably what these people are confusing with arrogance ... YES finally a black man is on national TV ery day and claims he is entitled to the presidential nomination and the entire fucking job - just cuz he is a human competing in the same prezidential contest as other humans — bold isn’t it? ... yes, obama feels as do I and a handful of other colored people that we were BORN ENTITLED to a life of dignity, respect, and unlimited possibilities ... we (and i sure will speak for bam bam cuz it's that simple a statement i doubt he would refute it) also feel we are ENTITLED to inalienable human rights: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of self-identity, freedom to bear arms etc. etc.

it’s not the kind of entitlement where you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth and think silver poop comes out the other end ... it is simply a belief in your own validity as a person because you know you are a human just like anyone else ... a.k.a. confidence.

... and if we all pause for a moment and take stock of what is on our inner shelves ... we will know that this arrogance bullshit is code for the shock of seeing a black man comfortable with POWER ...

empower yourselves ... by freeing yourselves from these old ass limitations ... for those who are in shock that black men can be so at ease with who they are and their ascent to greatness ... and for those who are in shock that such a power lies within us all ...

i mean, get used to it cuz this darky aint movin ... and the only place bam bam movin is ... into the WHITE house.