Being a Mouse in a Cat World

For years, cats oppressed mice. Cats would never feature mice art in museums, mice shows on tv, or mice music on radio stations. Cats also denied mice college admission and tuition assistance and didn’t advocate for mice that were severely downtrodden.

One day, mice got tired of being oppressed and created the National Association for the Advancement of Mice. This helped advocate for mice where the cats wouldn’t.

Mice came together and created the United Mice College Fund and Mice Colleges to help mice attend universities. This helped mice get an education that the cats tried to hinder.

Mice came together and made mice themed museums to showcase mice art. Cats didn’t like mice art being displayed because it proved that mice were intellectual and could think outside of the box.

Mice came together and created the Mice Entertainment Television channel. The cats wouldn’t play mice music because it gave the cats competition.

A few decades later in order to prove that cats weren’t oppressors, cats started painting mice as “cat haters” simply because mice had to create their own avenues of success and expression because the cats wouldn’t allow them to do in their realm. Cats would say, “How am I an oppressor? That show on Mice TV only has mice! What about the Cats? Don’t cats deserve respect too? Cat hater”.

Remember, there would be no need for mice museums and mice advancement organizations if the cats would have welcomed the mice with open arms to begin with.

God Bless New Jackson

Welcome to the town of New Jackson.

New Jackson has 100 citizens.

70 Elves.

20 Wizards.

10 Lizards.

New Jackson has 2 political parties.

Pinks.

Purples.

It doesn’t matter who the Wizards and Lizards vote for in the elections, they are still a minority and will be treated as such.

The Wizards and Lizards only hope would be that the Elves who always retain power use it in a way to enhance their lives.

When the Wizards and Lizards ask for more recognition and a bigger voice, the Elves accuse them of wanting special treatment.

When the Wizards and Lizards come together to discuss grassroots organizing and community strategies, the Elves accuse them of participating in identity politics.

The Wizards and Lizards also have a history of slavery and colonialism because of the Elves, resulting in a huge wealth imbalance.

When the Wizards point to a history of imperialism, colonialism, and economic terrorism, they are accused of having it better here than in their homeland and that they can go back to where they came from. Most of the Wizards are in fact native to New Jackson.

When the Lizards point to history and how it’s a straight line from slavery, legalized discrimination, and state sponsored terrorism and how those remnants still are intact today, they are accused of being racist towards the Elves and told to be grateful because a few Lizards became sports stars. They are also told to respect the statues of famous Elf slave owners because “history is history”.

Though not all Elves are bad, they all benefit from the past and are treated differently by the New Jackson Police Department. It’s called Elf Privilege. A lot of Elves are also poor but they have been convinced by the rich Elves that it’s because of the Wizards and Lizards. Lots of those poor Elves become Elf Supremacists. There are also Elves who understand the struggles of the Wizards and Lizards and lend a hand when necessary in debate and policy. Those Elves are highly respected and given the honorary title of “woke”.

There is also crime in New Jackson, with lots of Elf on Elf violence, Wizard on Wizard violence, and Lizard on Lizard violence.

Anytime the Wizards and Lizards want to discuss policy and legislature, they are told by the Elves to focus on crime first. Because of lack of resources, programs, economic development, drugs, and guns (Evidence shows the Elf run government is responsible for these issues), lots of Wizards and Lizards believe that crime is a direct result from that chaos and not because there is something inherently wrong with them.

New Jackson is slowly turning into a hate filled place full of misunderstandings and violence. The Elves just elected a president who promises to make New Jackson great again and the Wizards and Lizards are nervous because New Jackson has never been great to them to begin with. They need your help!

1. If you were a political organizer, how would you help the Wizards and the Lizards?

2. Do you feel the Elves have a duty to ensure the Wizards and the Lizards have equity and not necessarily equality?

3. How should New Jackson make amends for its past and the fallout from it?

4. Why is Wizard on Wizard/Lizard on Lizard crime brought up when the Wizards and Lizards want to discuss economic development or school construction?

5. How patriotic would you be as a Wizard or a Lizard in New Jackson?

Why Does Everything Have To Be About Race?!

This morning, I was doing my due diligence as an informed citizen by checking my 10+ news streams to get about half of a story.

Headlines were as followed:
Trump did this.
Trump did that.
Disturbed mentally ill lone wolf White guy kills dozens.
Sportsball.
Famous rich man touched famous rich woman.

Near the “increase your testosterone 100000000% with this one trick” clickbait ad, I saw the 2018 Grammys highlights. I’m almost 31 so I figured what the heck, let’s play the “how many of these artists can I even recognize” game.

The first act was Kendrick Lamar and I was blown away.

Not necessarily by the song lyrics though, but Dave Chapelle’s interjection halfway through the performance:
“I just wanted to remind the audience that the only thing more frightening than watching a Black man being honest in America is being an honest Black man in America”.

Again.

“I just wanted to remind the audience that the only thing more frightening than watching a Black man being honest in America is being an honest Black man in America”.

One more time for the All Lives Matter crowd.

“I just wanted to remind the audience that the only thing more frightening than watching a Black man being honest in America is being an honest Black man in America”.

#TRUTH

Let a Black man speak honestly about his perceptions and treatment and he’s labeled an Anti-American Socialist supporting Communist who wants to rape, murder, and BBQ innocent White children on an alter dedicated to Satan and Malcolm X. Oh and he hates every single cop too.

After reading the article, I committed more scholarly research into the topic by diving into the well of infinite knowledge of the human condition…the comment section.

Shockingly, I didn’t see that many N words thrown around but I did see something that kept echoing:
Why does everything have to be about race?

It’s a valid question.

Why does everything have to be about race?

Well..why does everything have to be about race?

Let’s see..

Immigration to the colonies was about race.

The Native American genocide and Manifest Destiny was about race.

Chattel slavery from the 1500s to the late 1800s was about race.

Independence being declared for White men and White men only was about race.

The Civil War was about race.

Early landownership laws was about race.

Voting was about race.

Black Codes was about race.

Gun laws was about race.

Immigration and bringing me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses (just not the Brown ones from shithole countries) was about race.

Great Depression social program eligibility was about race.

Military interventions or lack thereof was about race.

Medical experimenation was about race.

Segregation was about race.

Redlining housing districts was about race.

Jim Crow was about race.

Criminal justice reform, sentencing recommendations, and capital punishment was about race.

Community policing was about race.

Political power and candidate selection was about race.

Credit approval and bank loans was about race.

Free speech was about race.

A presidential candidate laying out his plan of action and all of its intricacies for some voters while telling the other voters “what in the hell do you have to lose” was about race.

The difference between “receiving handouts” and being a “beneficiary of safety net services” was about race.

The difference between being labeled a crackhead or an opioid addict was about race.

The difference between being sent to county jail or rehabilitating center was about race.

The difference between being a “son of a bitch” and a “very fine person” was about race.

But..

When a Black president says a Black unarmed teenager who stood his ground against a stalker engaging in racial profiling could look like his son, it’s bad somehow because it’s about race?

When Black football players speak out against police brutality and societal inequality in regard to Black and Brown people with no voice, it’s bad somehow because it’s about race?

When Black artists talk about life in America while being Black, its bad somehow because it’s about race?

…………..I digress.

Why does everything have to be about race you ask?

How about, when was anything NOT about race (or would that be using the race card)?

The Eight Reasons Why I Decided To Leave The “Black Revolutionary Twitter” Movement

Over the past few months, I’ve slowly gone from being a frontline twitter soldier in the Black revolutionary struggle to an occasional checker of my TL. Why? I guess I’ve just grown tired of what I kept seeing; the same old tweets from the same old people the same old day after the same old day. After multiple attempts to revive my interest in the field, including following more people with the words, “F*ck capitalism” and “George Bush is stupid” in their bios, I’ve decided to retire. Please, hold your tears. I don’t want a plaque or a medal…your attention for a while will suffice. The following are the eight reasons I decided to walk away from the Black revolutionary twitter movement. If you partake in these, stop it. If you don’t, thank you.

 

8) Photo Op Revolutionaries

I never knew we had so many young brothers and sisters graduating with degrees in photography! You know the people who post every workout they do on social media? You know the people who post every meal they eat on social media? You know the people who post ever pair of shoes they buy on social media? Well, you’ve guessed it. Most of these Black twitter revolutionaries treat anything they do as a photo op. Helping an old lady across the street? Selfie time! Giving a kid a dollar? Selfie time! Reading a Wikipedia article on Kwame Toure? Selfie time! Soup kitchen visit? Selfie time! I guess I’m just used to Malcolm and Martin doing things and getting a photo taken rather than taking a photo just to appear to be doing things. People who need five hundred likes to feel as if they are doing big things need to visit a psychiatrist, not a protest. If you are truly into your work, you won’t be able to take ten thousand pictures while you’re doing your work. There is nothing wrong with documenting hard work through photographic evidence, but real people can tell when someone is treating community service as work or just an opportunity get some feminist booty

 

7) High Class

No offense to hard working brothers and sisters who climbed out the ghetto through hard work and determination, but look…just because I don’t think Kendrick Lamar is some rap god because he made a song about a bathtub full or beer or something doesn’t mean I’m not conscious. Me not knowing one J Cole song does not make me any less deep than the next man or woman. So many of these Black twitter revolutionaries are Starbucks drinking, Howard educated, two parent having, upper middle class raised, dark skinned versions of Hunter Hurst Hemsley (before he joined DX). There is nothing wrong with being successful or blessed, but stop lecturing brothers and sisters who are still in the hood who criticize the hood to help fix the hood. You are out the hood remember? Some of these Black twitter revolutionaries are no different from any other bourgeois CNN reporter they call, “out of touch”. They call Don Lemon a sell out yet run into him daily at the Joseph A Banks downtown. Save your lecturing, and Italian made bow-ties, for someone else. Gated community twitter revolutionaries posting about the horrors of the hood on their iPads from Best Buy purchased with good credit. But keep speaking on things you watched on Netflix documentary.

 

PS: Just because you do stand up poetry doesn’t mean you are as deep as the Atlantic Ocean.

I know plenty of people who can rhyme slave with wage, Bloods and Crips with big old lips, & pickle with nickel…Little Bow Wow for example. Standing on a stage in an outfit Kayne West would be proud of, with a poem you wrote while smoking mid and listening to a dubstep version of a remixed Nas song doesn’t make you a revolutionary bro.

 

 

6) Soap Box Artists

Preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, and preach! It’s as if these Black twitter revolutionaries are on the following calendar:

Dude, the sh*t gets old. There are only so many ways you can say, “the White man is bad”. Maybe it’s time for a new topic. How about resume building?

 

5) Fawning Over Black Women

Look, most Black women are great. Some are intelligent, beautiful, funny, loving, and everything in between…but I don’t need to recite an entire epic poem every time I interact with a sister. We all know this one brother with the hashtag #iloveblackwomen” (yet he is single? Lol). Every other tweet is, “Black woman, such luscious are your lips, Black as an onyx stone, skin as Brown as a Hershey’s Kiss, such even in tone. My beautiful Nubian natural haired Brown-eyed goddess of Ethiopia, I love the scent of your toffee and dark cacao body. Yada, yada, yada…”. Look, If you want to be a conscious version of Trey Songz go ahead, but just because I can’t spend thirty minutes singing to every Black lady I bump into at the grocery store doesn’t mean I’m a sell out.

 

4) Selective Outrage

We all have seen these guys:

Forty dead in Chicago over gang violence.

Thirty dead in New Orleans over gang violence.

Thirty five dead in Oakland over gang violence.

Black man dead after being choked by the police.

OH HELL NAW!!! F*CK NAW!!! RACIST ASS WHITE PEOPLE ALWAYS TRYING TO KILL US!!!! IT’S TIME FOR A REVOLUTION MAN!! ON GOD!!! IM SO TIRED OF THIS!! RACISM MUST END!! AL WHERE YOU AT???! JESSE COME ON!! TIME TO RIDE!!

 

The next day.

 

Twenty dead in Miami over gang violence.

 

Twenty dead in Birmingham over gang violence.

Ten dead in Memphis over gang violence.

Popular chef admits to using the N word years ago.

WHAT?!!? MAN F*CK THAT!!!! I CANT BELIEVE THIS!!! WHITE PEOPLE ARE SOOOOOOOOOOO RACIST MAN DAMN!!!!!! WHEN WILL RACISM END??!!

 

Now, if anyone asked anything remotely like the following, all hell will break out:

Hey, it’s sad and all that the Black guy was killed by the police…and that chef saying the N word…terrible…but umm, what about all those dead black people caused by Black people? I guess personal responsibility is a b*tch huh?

 

3) My Way Or You’re An Uncle Tom

These folks kill me. These Black revolutionary twitter soldiers are the most vocal and most condemning people on Earth. It’s funny how these guys are “radical” yet I’ve never seen them actually doing anything radical…unless cussing out people with egg avis on twitter is considered radical. “You either believe what I learned from a YouTube documentary ten minutes ago or you’re an Uncle Tom. You either hate every White person or you hate every Black person”. These are the cats that preach Black excellence and Black superiority but spend ninety dollars on a collar shirt with a White guy playing polo, the Whitest sport ever made, on it. Black power huh? These are the guys who say White folks are evil yet watches a White owned sports team play another White owned sports team playing in a White owned arena wearing a Chinese made jersey that was made for a White owned apparel company. How revolutionary are you? Hating the man yet enriching him with all your resources? Think about that wanna be Eldridge Cleaver.

 

2) Excuse Making

These Black twitter revolutionaries have no solutions for any issues unless it’s “White people did it”. Poverty? White people did it. Teenage pregnancy? White people did it. Black on Black crime? White people did it? The dirty dishes in the sink? White people did it. Drought in Sudan? Yep, you guessed it. White people did it! I’m not saying they don’t cause any problems because they do, a lot of them, but damn, we aren’t angels either. Black twitter revolutionaries engage in the most excuse making ever seen to man. Of course slavery & Jim Crow have long lasting effects on us, but that is STILL no excuse to do dumb sh*t. Every thing that seems to be our fault is redirected by these Black twitter revolutionaries to something else. Teaching our youth to never take responsibility for their lives is not only counter productive, it’s extremely dangerous. “Why should I work? The White man not gone hire me. Why should I go to school? The White man don’t want me to learn. Why should I go to college? The White man won’t accept my application”. This leads me to my last reason for retiring from the Black twitter revolutionary crowd.

 

1) The White Man

As if it isn’t obvious enough, my number 1 reason for retiring from the Black twitter revolutionary click is their constant bombardment of the White man. Day in day out, everything is the White man’s fault.

Soulja boy’s tape?

The White man.

Shaqs?

The White man.

Puff Diddy Daddy Honey Combs 3rd name change? Piffy D..or it it Shawn Daddy?

But anyways, the White man.

In all seriousness though, it’s time to drop that. Contrary to Black twitter revolutionary belief,

A: White people helped and still do help in the struggle, and

B: Black people are not a race of retarded sheep with no sense of direction.

Black people, like every other people, largely control their own destinies. Want to go to college? Study, apply and take the sat, apply for a college, get in, succeed, and graduate. If one can’t study because there are six kids in the house, it’s not the White man’s fault, it’s whoever made those six kids. If one can’t apply for the SAT because of the cost, again it’s not the white man’s fault, it’s the parent’s. They shouldn’t have had kids if they couldn’t afford them. You can’t go to college because your school is terrible? Well, why is your school terrible? How many parents go to the PTOs or are involved with the teachers/administrators/coaches? Your school has a low tax base? Well, why is there no money in your town? If your parents have time to post their latest Candy Crush score onto their facebooks, why can’t they use that time to create businesses to improve that low tax base? You see where we are going? Life is like an onion. Most people want to look only at the skin, the things that make the surface level. When you peel away the layers, you start seeing the real meat, the real reasons. Plain and simple, Black inferiority trumps White superiority any day. I’ll say it again. Black inferiority trumps White superiority. I’ll say it again. Black inferiority trumps White superiority. What that means is BLACK INACTION IS STRONGER THAN WHITE ACTION. OUR PEOPLE, OUR RESPONSIBILITY. Stop selling our people dreams of, “we can’t do anything for ourselves because of the White man”. White people aren’t trashing our hood, we are. White people aren’t taking away the jobs, we aren’t creating any. Unless of course you have a Jordan shoe factory in your town or a Roc-A-Wear clothing factory in your city? You don’t? Oh…the White man’s fault huh? If your school sucks, run for school board. If your city’s economic development sucks, run for city council. STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND DO SOMETHING.

 

In closing, there are two types of people in this world, b*tchers & builders. One b*tches and one builds. If you want to sit on social media all day and b*tch, you have your right to, but don’t consider yourself a revolutionary activist who on death ascends into heaven and sits on the right hand side of Huey P. Newton. You don’t do anything. B*tching is b*tching…nothing more and nothing less. Building? Now that’s action. B*tching creates shortness of breath while building creates progress. I’m sure I’m going to lose a lot of followers, friends, and readers after this post, but I don’t care. As famed revolutionary political theorist and rapper Young Jeezy once said, “Real Recognize Real”…and I’m real. For all my real revolutionary brothers and sisters doing real revolutionary things…not for instagram likes or twitter followers, let’s link up. The revolution needs warriors, not coffeehouse philosophers. Find me at @professor_rambo

 

Power to the people.

Ignoring a tidal wave over a leaky faucet

Unlike all these morons working for and glued to the lamestream media, I’m not shocked, enraged, or horrified by the remarks made by Donald Sterling, the owner of the LA Clippers. This is the basic rundown:

Sterling calls girlfriend. Sterling tells girlfriend not to take pictures with Black men or bring them to the games. Girlfriend gets mad. Phone call is leaked. End of story.

What? Am I supposed to bitch and moan because of his racist opinions? This shit aint new to me. I live in this place called “The South”. You know, it’s interesting how the lamestream media works. Take something big, like affirmative action being banned in ANOTHER state for example. You know, the program that helps minorities with jobs and college admissions? Yeah, that thing. The media gave it a 30-minute segment before talking about that lost plane and its connection to UFOs. Think I’m lying? Check out last week’s headlines. Now, a fat slob who OWNS BLACK athletes telling his Kim Kardashien lookalike girlfriend not to take instagram pictures with black guys and WHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!! 24-hour air play, in depth analysis, interviews, CNN specials, Black in America documentaries, rallies, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton speeches, lamb sacrifices made to the Gods…well not that last one but you get the point. Why is it that racism that holds Black people back is taken lightly while someone’s comments are taken as the word of god? There is REAL racism and LIGHT racism. One stings and one kills. Our society was built upon the backs of slaughtered Africans and Natives. The definition of racism could pretty much be America. Racism has not gone anywhere, it simply hides in plain sight. You have Black kids being shot in the streets for simply being Black and I’m supposed to be in uproar when some fucktard makes a racist statement? Instead of focusing on the racist statement of one man, let’s look at the overarching system in which he works, the NBA. Why is it that 83% of NBA players are Black while only 1 Black man is an owner? Why is it that 60% of NBA players file for bankruptcy 5 years after retirement? WHAT!?! You mean 18 year old Black inner-city kids with 12 college credits can’t balance a check book?! Again, out of 100 players in the NBA, 83 are Black…and only 1 in history has ever owned a team? But you want me to have a stroke over some diabetic talking about black people? I’m good. So, the next time some moron spews some racist crap, keep it to yourselves. Me and my race conscious brothers and sisters know how the lamestream media works. You thow us a bone to keep us distracted from the meat. It’s a lot like ignoring a tidal wave over a leaky faucet. Imagine you are at your home and you live near a beach. Your back is towards the ocean. You are pissed off at the leaky faucet in your bathroom. The leaky faucet is Donald Sterling telling his Kim Kardashien lookalike girlfriend to stop taking instagram pictures with Black men. The tidal wave is affirmative action being banned. Which one should be looked at more deeply? Which one actually means a damn and can literally destroy your life? If Black people think a guy who owns a basketball team’s opinion on race is more important than the repealing of laws that were made to help give the Black race a hand up in life, consider this being my resignation from the African American race letter.

PS: Have fun with the special on “Race in America” tonight…I’m sure one is coming on. I wonder if it will be hosted by Soledad O’Brien and that chubby guy who is only on CNN when its about race or Barack Obama? Roland Mcdonald or something? Whatever. Peace.

Lemon & Pound Cake: Racism vs. Responsibility

DISCLAIMER
Before I begin my exploration on what I call, “Racism vs. Responsibility ”, let me assure the reader of a few things first. This is not an article dismissing White Racism. I repeat, this is not an article dismissing White Racism. This is also not an article demonizing Black people. This is an article demanding more Black action & more Black accountability. I’m very familiar with racial profiling, Stop & Frisk, 400 years of chattel slavery, 100 years of legal discrimination, 50 years of 2nd class citizenship, the Crack Epidemic, The War on Drugs, & the New Jim Crow. I’m hip to Redlining after World War 2, the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, COINTELPRO, the Move bombing in Philadelphia, & George Zimmerman’s acquittal. I’m a Black male living in the South. Experiencing Racism is as natural to me as gnats flying around my face during the summer time. I’ve marched for Mumia & protested for Trayvon. I can’t speak down on the people if I am one of the people. I’m not upper class nor do I drive a BMW. I enjoy Starbucks every other month & I do not watch Tyler Perry. I came from the same hood these people come from…my people come from. I’m simply a man tired of my culture going from one of revolution & progress, to one of stagnation & excuse making…a culture going from “yes we can” to “I cant do dis, I cant do dat”. Of course racism is real…but it is still no excuse for certain behaviors. Ants don’t whine & cry when their hill is destroyed. The ants fight, bite, unite, & get the hill back right no matter how many ants die in the process. This post is on what we can do as Black people, not what has been done to us by White people. With that being said, Revolutionary love.

“It’s not what they are doing to us, it’s what we’re not doing.”
-Bill Cosby

In the Black community, it seems as if one can’t speak about responsibility without being labeled. For instance, I was called a racist recently when I said, “Don’t invest hundreds of dollars on a pair of shoes for a 7 year old, invest in some school supplies”. I wasn’t calling out Black folks specifically…but being Black, living in the Black community, & with a passion for uplifting my Black people, I just had to be honest. I was called a racist, a classist, out of touch, an Uncle Tom, & just plain ignorant. If being honest is being a racist, I guess I’ll gladly accept that title.

Two other men have taken a similar approach when it comes to “keeping it real” with the Black community & have been met with similar reactions: Bill Cosby & Don Lemon.

Bill Cosby
In 2004, Bill Cosby gave a speech during the NAACP’s 50-year celebration of Brown vs. the Board of Education. Cosby, as the younger generation would say, “went ham”. Cosby lashed out against “people he didn’t know”. Cosby spoke against out of wedlock births, incorrect English, dress, conduct, school attendance, & most importantly, the lack of good, solid parenting. Here are some excerpts from his talk comically named the “Pound Cake Speech” because of an example he used:

*No longer is a person embarrassed because they’re pregnant without a husband. No longer is a boy considered an embarrassment if he tries to run away from being the father of the unmarried child.

*Ladies & gentlemen, the lower economic & lower middle economic people are not holding their end in this deal. In the neighborhoods that most of us grew up in, parenting is not going on.

*I’m talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was two? Where were you when he was twelve? Where were you when he was eighteen, & how come you don’t know he had a pistol? Where is his father & why don’t you know where he is? Why doesn’t the father show up to talk to this boy?

*Those of us sitting out here who have gone on to some college or whatever we’ve done, we still fear our parents & these people are not parenting. They’re buying things for the kid. $500 sneakers, for what? They won’t buy or spend $250 on Hooked on Phonics.

*But these people (Civil Rights Activists), the ones up here in the balcony fought so hard. Looking at the incarcerated, these are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake! Then we all run out & are outraged, “The cops shouldn’t have shot him”. What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand? I wanted a piece of pound cake just as bad as anybody else. I looked at it & I had no money & something called parenting said if get caught with it you’re going to embarrass your mother. Not you’re going to get your butt kicked. No. You’re going to embarrass your mother. You’re going to embarrass your family.

*Are you not paying attention, people with their hat on backwards, pants down around the crack. Isn’t that a sign of something, or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up. Isn’t it a sign of something when she’s got her dress all the way up to the crack…and got all kinds of needles & things going through her body? What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans, they don’t know a damned thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Shaligua, Mohammed & all that crap & all of them are in jail. When we give these kinds names to our children, we give them the strength & inspiration in the meaning of those names. What’s the point of giving them strong names if there is not parenting & values backing it up?

*Brown vs. the Board of Education is no longer the white person’s problem. We’ve got to take the neighborhood back.

*It’s right around the corner. It’s standing on the corner. It can’t speak English. It doesn’t want to speak English. I can’t even talk the way these people talk. “Why you ain’t where you is go, uhh,” I don’t know who these people are & I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. Then I heard the father talk. This is all in the house. You used to talk a certain way on the corner & you got into the house & switched to English. Everybody knows it’s important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can’t land a plane with “why you ain’t is…” You can’t be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth.

*Where did these people get the idea that they’re moving ahead on this? Well, they know they’re not, they’re just hanging out in the same place, five or six generations sitting in the projects when you’re just supposed to stay there long enough to get a job & move out.

*Now look, I’m telling you. It’s not what they’re doing to us. It’s what we’re not doing. Fifty percent drop out. Look, we’re raising our own ingrown immigrants. These people are fighting hard to be ignorant. There’s no English being spoken & they’re walking & they’re angry. Oh God, they’re angry & they have pistols & they shoot & they do stupid things & after they kill somebody, they don’t have a plan. Just murder somebody. Boom. Over what? A pizza?

*It’s time for you to not accept the language that these people are speaking, which will take them nowhere. What the hell good is Brown V. Board of Education if nobody wants it?

*And then they stand there in an orange suit & you drop to your knees, “He didn’t do anything, he didn’t do anything.” Yes, he did do it & you need to have an orange suit on too.

*All of these people who lined up & done…they’ve got to be wondering what the hell happened. Brown V. Board of Education, these people who marched & were hit in the face with rocks & punched in the face to get an education & we got these knuckleheads walking around who don’t want to learn English. I know that you all know it. I just want to get you as angry that you ought to be. When you walk around the neighborhood & you see this stuff, that stuff’s not funny. These people are not funny anymore & that ‘s not brother & that’s not my sister. They’re faking & they’re dragging me way down because the state, the city & all these people have to pick up the tab on them because they don’t want to accept that they have to study to get an education.

*We have to begin to build in the neighborhood, have restaurants, have cleaners, have pharmacies, have real estate, have medical buildings instead of trying to rob them all.

*Basketball players, multimillionaires can’t write a paragraph. Football players, multimillionaires, can’t read. Yes. Multimillionaires. Well, Brown vs. Board of Education, where are we today? It’s there. They paved the way. What did we do with it? The white man, he’s laughing, got to be laughing. Fifty percent drop out, rest of them in prison.

*You got to tell me that if there was parenting, help me, if there was parenting, he wouldn’t have picked up the Coca Cola bottle & walked out with it to get shot in the back of the head. He wouldn’t have. Not if he loved his parents & not if they were parenting!

*When you go to the church, look at the stained glass things of Jesus. Look at them. Is Jesus smiling? Not in one picture. So, tell your friends. Let’s try to do something. Let’s try to make Jesus smile. Let’s start parenting. Thank you, thank you.

At that, Cosby left the stage with many an opened mouth & nervous people clapping. Had this Negro gone mad? Telling Black people what to do…who does he think he is? Cosby’s list could be summed up as followed:

5) Pull up your pants
4) Speak proper English
3) Don’t forget the sacrifices of our elders
2) Go to school
1) Be a parent

Most met Cosby with anger towards his speech, some even going as far as to write a book asking has he & the Black middle class “lost their damn minds”. People said, “Cosby is out of touch”, “Cosby is just a grumpy old man”, “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about”, & some other things I won’t slander the man with. Don Lemon was met with a similar reaction for his “No Talking Points” segment earlier this week.

Don Lemon
Don Lemon, a Black male commentator for CNN, came under fire lately for his “self improvement talk” to the Black community. Lemon has run multiple specials on race in America since the George Zimmerman trial started & didn’t receive much backlash until this segment, one he called “Tough Love for the Black Community”. Lemon started out by agreeing with the following comments belonging to Bill O’Reilly:

“The reason there is so much violence & chaos in the black precincts is the disintegration of the African- American family. Raised without much structure, young black men often reject education & gravitate towards the street culture, drugs, hustling, & gangs. Nobody forces them to do that, again, it is a personal decision”.

Not only did Lemon say he agreed with O’Reilly’s comments, he said, “He doesn’t go far enough”. Lemon then gave the following speech, basically a 5 item recommendation list:

*Sagging pants, whether Justin Bieber or no-name Derek around the way, walking around with your ass & your underwear showing is not OK.

*Stop using the N word. Promoting the use of that word when it’s not germane to the conversation, have you ever considered that you may be just perpetuating the stereotype the master intended…you know, “acting like a nigger”?

*A lot of African-Americans took offense to that, too. I wonder if I gave the right advice, I really did. But confirmation came the very next day on my way home when I exited the subway in 125th Street in Harlem. This little kid in a school uniform no older than seven years old, he was crying his eyes out as he walked down the sidewalk with his mother. I’m going to be honest here, she turned to me & she said, “I’m sick of you. You act like an old ass man, stop all that crying, nigger.” Is that taking the word back? Think about that.

*Respect where you live. Start small by not dropping trash, littering in your own communities.

*You want to break the cycle of poverty? Stop telling kids they’re acting white because they go to school or they speak proper English. A high school dropout makes on average $19,000 a year, a high school graduate makes $28,000 a year, a college graduate makes $51,000 a year.

*Probably the most important…just because you can have a baby, it doesn’t mean you should. Especially without planning for one or getting married first. More than 72 percent of children in the African-American community are born out of wedlock. That means absent fathers & the studies show that lack of a male role model is an express train right to prison & the cycle continues.

Here is Lemon’s list:
5) Stop drooping.
4) Stop using the term Nigger/Nigga.
3) Stop trashing the neighborhood.
2) Stop dropping out of school.
1) Stop having children before you’re ready.

Lemon concluded with this:

*So, please, black folks, as I said if this doesn’t apply to you, I’m not talking to you. Pay attention to & think about what has been presented in recent history as acceptable behavior. Pay close attention to the hip-hop & rap culture that many of you embrace. A culture that glorifies everything I just mentioned: thug & reprehensible behavior. A culture that is making a lot of people rich…just not you…& it’s not going to.

Lemon ended with a clip affirming to his viewers that he hasn’t let the Right off the hook, showing a commentator saying the only time Republicans bring up Black on Black violence is to “stick it” to the Black community. After commercial break, the Internet caught fire. HOW DARE HE, A BLACK MAN, SPEAK ON THE BLACK COMMUNITY!!?? HOW DARE HE!!?? RACIST!!! UNCLE TOM!!!! RACIST!!! BOYCOTT LEMON!!! BOYCOTT CNN!! BOYCOTT TV!!! BOYCOTT CABLE!!!! I might have made up the last two parts but it was simply for theatrical effect. Like Cosby, Lemon was labeled an Uncle Tom & a racist for simply giving advice on how to fix their people’s communities. Well, were they right or wrong? Here’s my opinion.

My Take On Lemon & Cosby
After studying these two men’s recommendations, I don’t see them as racists or Uncle Toms, I see them as moral revolutionaries. Cosby & Lemon are not saying act White or that White people are off the hook, they are simply saying act with dignity & self-respect. These are the topics & issues people should discuss with their community if they want it to succeed. If what they recommended is wrong, I guess what we are doing is right? The slow & deliberate destruction of the Black community is a positive thing? We in the Black community have been sold a myth of Black inferiority & self-hate…& oddly enough, some of us seem to derive some form of pride from it, glorifying it in our thoughts, words, & deeds. You have young men & women so brainwashed in myth of Black inferiority that they have inked their flesh with the term “nigger”…their own unbeknownst slave brand. These people who accept the myth of Black inferiority are the TRUE indoor slaves people, not the people who are saying get out of that mindset. Think about it…would Malcolm X say dressing with your underwear exposed to others is acceptable…would Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most powerful Black men to ever step foot on Earth, describe himself as a “real nigga”…would Mumia Abu Jamal say dropping out of school is very positive behavior…would Dr. Huey P. Newton say speak in a language reminiscent to enslaved Africans on a plantation…would Angela Davis say the more kids born to teenagers the better? No…no, no, no, & no.

I believe what people misunderstand the most about Bill Cosby & Don Lemon is that they think they are telling Black people to “behave for Massa & racism will be over”. Speaking clear English & getting a high school diploma won’t end racism, but it will improve a community because the more educated the residents the better. How many Harvard educated lawyers or Hampton educated doctors go around trashing their neighborhoods, calling little kids niggas? Being better parents & telling the kids to pull up their clothes wont end discrimination, but it will lead to less crime & more self-respect on account of a proper upbringing. If one is raised in a healthy environment with two loving parents with jobs & goals, odds are the child wont disrespect his family & community by running away from a store with his pants falling down with stolen pound cake & a Coca-Cola.

Racism is a factor in the ills of the Black community & must be discussed or else I would look like a fool. Yes cops target Black kids for drug arrests more often than Whites…but what if the Black kid didn’t have drugs on him in the first place? That’s racism vs. responsibility. Yes schools in lower economic areas suffer from underfunding…but if the parents can keep up with the NBA, they can keep up with the PTA, demanding changes & staying involved. That’s racism vs. responsibility. Yes Black unemployment is twice that of Whites…but if more Blacks made businesses for employment instead of relying on someone else’s businesses for employment, more of us would most likely be hired. We can’t control White racism but what we can control Black action.  There is a White Power structure…but killing each other in the name of Waka Flocka Flame’s gang affiliation isn’t going to defeat it…it isn’t going to erect a Black Power structure.  Only powerful Black communities can erect Black Power structures.  Strong, revolutionary, non excuse making Black communities.

In closing, if we truly are in the midst of a race war my people, it’s not a smart idea to complain & wait for the “enemy” to lay down the sword…we must ready our troops & form alliances. We must sharpen our weapons…our body, our intellect, & our tongue. We must secure our fortresses…our communities, churches, & families. I assure you, in a war to end racism, a bunch of non-English speaking knuckleheads with pants below their kneecaps & blunts hanging out of their mouths aren’t going to make the best soldiers. The way to create the best soldiers is through discipline & accountability, responsibility & sacrifice. There must come a point in the evolution of the African American people that we switch the blame from Jim Crow & simply just focus more on Jim from across the corner. My challenge to my fellow brothers & sisters in the Black communities is this:

Let’s blame the man less & do for us more…

We need less “Lemon & Pound Cake” speeches & more “Lemon & Pound Cake” action. OUR FUTURE is in OUR HANDS.

All Power To The People

Follow me on Twitter @Professor_Rambo
Subscribe to my blog at http://www.hueyplivesinme.wordpress.com

Hating Hatred Doesn’t Work

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction…the chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Hating Hatred Doesn’t Work

 

On April 20^th, 2013, my family and I decided to protest a Neo Nazi/Ku Klux Klan rally at the Georgia Capital in Atlanta, Georgia.  The protest changed me deeply, shaping in me a new way of thinking.  This post will focus on race, the protest, and my newfound solution to racism. 

 

Racism Defined

Racism, since the beginning of its conception, has always been a tool utilized by the ruling elites to keep the poor and working class Black and white people separated.  Theoretically, there is no reason why a poor Black person or a poor White person should vote or organize differently since both desire and require the same necessities: employment, education, shelter, food, etc.  The elites know this and understand that there is power in numbers.  To thwart unity, the elites employ their two political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, to keep the poor and working class Black and White people apart for their benefit.  Bob Marley explained it perfectly in his 1979 song Ambush in the Night:

See them (Political Parties) fighting for power
But they know not the hour
So they bribing with their guns, spare-parts and money,
Trying to belittle our
Integrity now.
They say what we know
Is just what they teach us;
And we’re so ignorant
‘Cause every time they can reach us
Through political strategy
They keep us hungry
And when you wanna get some food
Your brother got to be your enemy.

Marley describes political parties fighting for power, using bribes to belittle people’s integrity.  Think of these bribes as universal healthcare, scholarships, background checks for guns, or increased social security spending, things politicians promise yet seldom deliver.   Marley also notes that political parties teach people through political strategies, mainstream media indoctrination basically, leading people to become physically and economically hungry…with their brother, the poor and working class Republican or Democrat, falsely appearing to be in the way of their “food”, which is jobs, security, schools, etc.

Republicans, with their continued use of the “Southern Strategy”, pimp poor and working class Whites with “I may be poor, but at least I aint a nigger” type of rhetoric, promoting strong views on militarism, capitalism, crime prevention, love of a White God, and anti-immigration.  These type of people drive pick up trucks and preach self-reliance with a “take no mess” attitude.

The Democrats on the other end, pimp mostly Black voters, insisting to them that they are “good white folk”, patting them on the head, feeding them with government handouts.  The Democrats teach Blacks that the Republicans are all racist hicks that think they are lazy, ignorant, and prone to violence.  If a Black decides to go Republican, these same “good White folk” Democrats who pat the Blacks on the head, stroking their kinky locks, turns into God, casting the Black Republican out of the “Garden of Eden”, calling THEM the racist.  The irony…

At this, the elites smoke cigars with the Republican and Democrat party leaders and play golf together while their constituents grow more and more resentful towards each other.  Just like in Afghanistan and Iraq, the elites rejoice while the poor and working class fight with a misconstrued feeling of patriotism. 

“Conscious” people, like politicians, also perpetrate racism.  Here are two theories of racism and how they are not accurate.

1.     Black people can’t be racist because they have no power.

2.     Racism is something exerted to others and not self.

First off, anyone who says Black people have no power is most likely a racist. Tell Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Huey P. Newton, Fred Hampton, Cornel West, Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, or Mumia Abu Jamal Black people have no power.  How can the creators of modern civilization have no power?  Black people DO have power, tremendous amounts of it, some just don’t know what to do with it.  Instead of taking their power to college campuses to organize, some take it to White owned football teams to organize…to tackle people.  Instead of taking their power to protest against police brutality, some take it to White owned recording booths to promote Black on Black brutality.  Instead of taking their power to stand outside a state capital for the release of a political prisoner, some take it to stand outside a White owned Footlocker for the re-re-re-re-re-rereleased pair of 180$ basketball shoes that they wont even play basketball in.  Come on man, come on…  Black people do have power, some just don’t collectively aim it in the right direction for true positive change. 

Secondly, self-hatred in my opinion is a form of racism.  Perming one’s hair, whitening one’s skin, killing one’s brother…all this is a form of racism because it entails hating one’s skin and Black characteristics, seeing a brother as an enemy.  If a White person hates a Black person he is racist.  If a Black person hates a Black person he is racist.  We have to start judging ourselves with the same rubric we employ to judge others.  A White man can’t be racist simply because he didn’t vote for Obama yet a Black man is not racist for killing five Black men and injuring three in a shootout.  How can we call the Ku Klux Klan racist if our own brothers are carrying out their dirty deeds for them?  Racism is racism no matter who perpetrates it.  With that being said, lets talk about my family outing to the Ku Klux Klan/Neo Nazi rally.

 

Protest

Butterflies were turning flips in my stomach as my family and I approached the capital.  I was not afraid of the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis because I see racists every day, but to see them out in the open with their views, passionate about their hatred and not ashamed of it was something different..something intimate..something more real.  When I turned the corner, walking past Georgia State Troopers with cocked and ready M-16’s, I found myself face to face with rage and hatred, anger and pride.. grungy looking white men in White robes and militant looking White men in Black military suits, pants tucked into their shiny boots.  Holding my son close, he asked, “Daddy, who are those men?”  I simply replied, “People who don’t want Black people and White people to live together…the same people who hated Dr. King and wants segregation.”  My son nodded in my arms and buried his head into my chest.  The racists were on the steps of the capital, waving flags and holding banners, their apparent leader speaking from a PA system.  The leader was drowned out by screaming from his supporters and noise made by the protesters.  The protesters ranged from young tough looking Black men to old White hipsters.  There were some men wearing V for Vendetta masks as well as a large Jewish presence.  After a while, the leader ended his speech and a long period of taunting began.  The racists spit across the barricade, protesters flipping the middle finger, shouts of “Cracker ill kill you” from the protester side and “You lucky the police are here boy” from the racist side.  Throughout all the pandemonium, the police looked as if they were against the protester side, keeping their back towards the racists, the gun facing us.  In the midst of all the commotion, a protester, a young woman, was grabbed and dragged through the street by the police, apparently for having a sign with explicit words written on it.  I guess freedom of speech is defined as verbal speech, not written?  With protesters playing bongos and snare drums and racists continuing to hurl insults, the atmosphere was similar to that of a playground tussle, all talk and no fights.  After a stand still, the racists decided to end the speeches and head back to their place of gathering.  The protesters stood there in a confused daze, not sure to follow them or continue protesting where they were.  After the racists entered a parking deck where they regrouped, a large group of protesters circled the building and stood on the corner.  The playground fight atmosphere continued, racists screaming down, protesters screaming up, cops screaming at protesters, racists screaming down, protesters screaming up, cops screaming at protesters, so on and so on and so on…  In the end, I looked from protester to racist, racist to protester, and again from protester to racist; but already it was impossible to say which was which*. The battle was a stalemate, a tie between who said the most insults. The crowd started to disperse and people went home. 

* Yes, I borrowed that line from Orwell’s book Animal Farm.

Solution

Police agents assassinated Malcolm X after he worshiped with White Muslims and started to believe in Black/White unity.  Dr. King was assassinated after he began to wean from civil rights to focus more on antiwar/economic rights work, something not simply a Black and White issue but also a Green.  The elites, as I wrote earlier, drive a wedge between the have and the have nots based on money and use race as its scapegoat.  The solution to racism IS NOT advocating a race war.  That is the most ignorant, suicidal thing a “conscious” person can do.  Advocating a poor and working class war would be extremely successful.  I’m not saying a guerilla war in the streets, but a war of public and corporate boycotts, military defections, strikes, peaceful protests, rallies, marches, teach ins, sit ins, mass arrests, occupations, etc, etc…   The real war is No Green Verses Green, Not Black Verses White.  The solution to racism is simply unity.  I never fully understood the meaning of non-violent protest until I witnessed a potentially violent one.  Screaming “F*ck you White trash” isn’t bringing anyone to the table of brotherhood.  Spitting at a protester isn’t getting at the core of why one fundamentally disagrees with one’s thought pattern.  Unity will take a tremendous amount of work because America’s race history is mostly negative.   We as conscious people must understand that at the core belief of racism is classism.  We must come together not as man-made races but as one government made class…the poor and working class.  I will end this blog with a quote from the great Malcolm X.  

“I believe there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those who do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice, and equality for everyone, and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation…but I don’t think that it will be based upon the color of the skin, as Elijah Muhammad had taught it”.

A house that is divided cannot stand…

All Power To The People

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Mass Murders, Mass Excuses

*Before one reads this article, turn the television to an episode of “First 48”.  Listen carefully to how the show describes the suspects. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the suspects are African American.

Mass Murders, Mass Excuses

It’s been fourteen years since Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold murdered thirteen human beings & injured twenty-four at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.  It’s been eight months since James Holmes killed twelve human beings & injured fifty-eight at Century 16 Multiplex Movie Theater in Aurora, Colorado.  It’s been three months since Adam Lanza killed twenty-seven human beings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.  It’s time to move on.  It’s time to talk about more important issues plaguing America…Kristen Stewart’s emotionless expressions, Nikki Minaj’s latest hair color, & Chuck Hagel not loving Israel enough.  Though its miniscule in statue compared to the before mentioned subjects, I have an issue America can discuss:  when it comes to murder, mass murder in particular, why do White people always receive a “get out of jail free” card?  No matter if a White brother kills one person or forty, it’s never their fault.  When it comes to African American killers though, the treatment is totally reversed.  Black killers are lynched in the media before ever making it to trial to be legally lynched by a supposed “jury of their own peers”.  I have compiled a few articles for comparisons in media coverage between White killers & African American killers to prove my point.  At the end of each article, I will give my opinion of them in the commentary section below it.

Connecticut School Massacre:  Adam Lanza “spent hours playing Call of Duty
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9752141/Connecticut-school-massacre-Adam-Lanza-spent-hours-playing-Call-Of-Duty.html

It has emerged that Lanza spent his time in the basement of the family’s four-bedroom home in Newtown playing video games, such as Call of Duty and obsessing over guns and military equipment, according to an interview in The Sun with plumber Peter Wlasuk.

Commentary: Video games.  Blame video games.  Its not Lanza’s fault, its those darn video games!

Adam Lanza and Asperger’s syndrome: Sandy Hook massacre puts mental health in the national spotlight

Adam Lanza and Asperger’s syndrome: Sandy Hook massacre puts mental health in the national spotlight

Asperger’s syndrome is a neurological condition that, while incurable, can be managed if treated. Sufferers of this autism spectrum disorder often experience difficulty with emotional connection, engage in ritualistic behaviors, and become isolated from peers. These symptoms plagued Lanza, who many in his town have described as an intelligent, but extremely awkward, loner.

Commentary:  Must be a mental disorder.  Normal middle class White children don’t kill people.  Right?

James Eagan Holmes Psychiatrist, Not Politicians, Could Have Prevented Aurora Tragedy
http://www.policymic.com/articles/12020/james-eagan-holmes-psychiatrist-not-politicians-could-have-prevented-aurora-tragedy

Any law enforcement entering James Holmes’ apartment in the weeks prior to the massacre could have seen that “something was wrong,” and that wrong thing, which included guns, large stashes of ammunition, incendiary devices and flammable liquids, would have had nothing to do with society-wide gun control or the Tea Party. It would have everything to do with the responsibility of those in authority to take action to protect innocent life from someone who’s got the materials, means, and motive to do something very bad.

School administrators, psychiatrists, and others in leadership roles have too often acted less like leaders, and more like members of Tony Soprano’s “family” covering up for enforcement actions in the alley back of the Bada Bing club. Thirteen people might still be alive, and 59 others might be healthy and uninjured, if Dr. Lynne Fenton had made a few phone calls, raised her voice, and insisted that James Holmes receive a law enforcement visit — or even contacted her school’s own violence prevention task force.

Commentary:  Poor James Holmes…its not his fault he shot up a movie theater, its his university’s psychiatrists.  SHAME ON YOU SCHOOL PSYCHIATRISTS!!

Colo. suspect James Holmes “smart” but “quiet,” teachers and neighbors say
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57477097/colo-suspect-james-holmes-smart-but-quiet-teachers-and-neighbors-say/

Twenty-four-year-old James Holmes left different impressions on people he encountered in life. At the University of California, Riverside, where he graduated with honors in neuroscience in 2010, he’s remembered as brilliant.

“He was an honor student, so academically he was at the top of the top,” University Chancellor Tim White said at a press conference. “He really distinguished himself from an academic point of view during his four years with us, graduating with highest honors.”

Julie Adams lived around the corner. Her son played soccer with James. She says his intelligence was obvious early on.

“People come here because of the school district,” Adams said, “so there’s lots and lots of kids because of that and obviously his parents wanted to give him the best and that’s why they lived here.”

In high school, Holmes won a competitive position at a rigorous science boot camp and an internship in neurobiology at the prestigious Salk Institute.

Tom Mai, who lived next door with his family for a decade, remembers James as smart, quiet, polite.

Commentary:  Oh my God…he is so smart…how could this happen?  Did I mention he was smart?  Never mind the fact he is on trial for murdering thirteen human beings, he is so polite.
The following articles are on an African American killer.

Judge Sentences Atlanta Courthouse Shooter Brian Nichols To Life Without Parole
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,466586,00.html

A judge on Saturday sentenced the man who killed four people in a brazen courthouse escape to several terms of life in prison without parole on more than fifty charges.

Superior Court Judge James Bodiford was required by law to sentence Brian Nichols to life in prison with or without chance of parole after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on a death sentence.

On Saturday, Bodiford gave Nichols, 37, consecutive maximum sentences on every charge, meaning he will likely die in prison.

“If there was any more I could give you, I would,” Bodiford said. “I intended to and did give the maximum sentence. It’s a large number of years.”

Among the sentences were four of life without parole, plus hundreds of additional years behind bars.

“Life with the possibility of parole is not an appropriate sentence,” Bodiford said in explaining his decision. “It’s not in the ballpark.”

Nichols was on trial for rape in 2005 when he grabbed a guard’s gun and fatally shot the judge, a court reporter and a sheriff’s deputy in the courthouse. He fled and killed a federal agent in an Atlanta neighborhood.

Nichols, who did not take the stand in his own defense, spoke in court for the first time on Saturday.

“I just wanted to say that I know that the things I’ve done caused a lot of pain and I’m sorry,” he said. “And I just wanted to say that I will not bring dishonor to the decision to spare my life. That’s it.”

The judge declared a deadlock in the sentencing phase of the trial against Nichols Friday after jurors couldn’t agree on whether to give him the death penalty. Death sentences in Georgia require a unanimous jury decision, so Nichols automatically got life in prison. State law required Bodiford to decide which life prison sentence to give Nichols.

“This is not a criticism of the jury,” Bodiford said. “They did everything they could to come up with a unanimous decision. Sometimes it’s impossible to do.”

Prosecutors had urged jurors to sentence Nichols to death after he was convicted last month of murder and dozens of other counts in the killings.

The sentence caps more than three years of efforts to bring Nichols to justice since his arrest that were repeatedly bogged down by legal complications, frustrating victims’ relatives and angering state legislators over the costs.

Nichols was being escorted to his trial for rape when he beat a deputy guarding him and stole her gun. He burst into the courtroom and shot and killed Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Deputy Hoyt Teasley.

He fled downtown Atlanta and managed to evade hundreds of police officers searching for him overnight. In Atlanta’s posh Buckhead neighborhood, he shot and killed federal agent David Wilhelm at a house the agent was renovating.

Nichols was captured the next day in suburban Gwinnett County after a woman he took hostage, Ashley Smith Robinson, alerted police to his whereabouts. Smith Robinson was credited with bringing a peaceful ending to the rampage by appealing to Nichols’ religious beliefs and giving him illegal drugs.

Nichols, who was raised in Baltimore, confessed to the killings but claimed he was legally insane and that he believed he was a slave rebelling against his masters. Prosecutors argued that he concocted the delusions to avoid the death penalty.

In closing arguments Monday, prosecutors asked the jury for a death sentence while defense lawyers urged jurors to avoid vengeance.

“That’s the kind of vengeful, recriminative response that begets more violence,” defense attorney Henderson Hill said.

Prosecutor Clint Rucker called Nichols an “extremely dangerous” killer who would try to escape again if sent to prison for life.

Nichols’ rampage prompted attorneys and judges to question their safety and law enforcement around the state to re-examine courthouse security measures.

Commentary:  This article could be summed up in the following:  “If it was up to me, this Black rapist son of a b*tch would be strapped to a gurney and executed tomorrow!!  Did I mention he was on trial for rape?  He is a rapist.  All Black men are sexual beasts.”

Judge, Two Others Killed in Courthouse Shooting
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150119,00.html#ixzz2FQGfON3z

Atlantans were on edge Friday after a rape suspect allegedly shot and killed three people in a downtown courthouse and made a desperate escape, sparking a citywide manhunt.

“We recognize this is a very scary situation,” said Mayor Shirley Franklin, who assured citizens that city, state and federal authorities were concentrating their resources on capturing the fugitive, Brian Nichols.

Nichols was at the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta to face charges of raping and holding his girlfriend prisoner. But before entering the courtroom, police say he grabbed a sheriff’s deputy’s gun and used it to kill three people, including Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes

The deputy was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to her head, a doctor at Grady Memorial Hospital said. She was expected to survive.

Nichols also allegedly carjacked a series of vehicles following the 9 a.m. EST shooting. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office most recently sent out an alert for a green 1997 green Honda Accord, license plate 658-4YN.

“He already showed that he doesn’t care about taking lives,” said Harold Copus, a former FBI special agent in Atlanta. “We have to be very concerned about a hostage situation. If that gets in the way of him and … another car, he will take a hostage.

“We have to find him.”

An emergency command post was set up in the city. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Department was leading the investigation. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Georgia Bureau of Investigation were contributing their efforts, along with about 100 state troopers and officers from surrounding counties.

Nichols, 33, is described as a black male, 6’1″ who weigh 200 pounds, and has a medium complexion. Authorities asked people to call 404-730-5129 if they had information about his whereabouts.

Judge Barnes, who died from a gunshot wound to the head, was overseeing Nichols’ case. An initial trial ended in a hung jury last week and a retrial was under way.

Atlanta, famous for its traffic, was in a virtual lockdown following the shootings. Police were out in force, setting up roadblocks at major intersections in downtown and midtown. State police cast a net outside the city, and patrol cars were being positioned on median strips along I-75 and I-285.

The courthouse, located in the heart of the city near major tourist destinations, remained closed. Investigators were still poring over the crime scene, and it was not clear if the bodies of the judge and a court stenographer who was also killed had been removed from the building.

Nichols was charged with raping and holding his girlfriend prisoner last August. Other charges he faced were sodomy and possession of a machine gun, a handgun and a large quantity of marijuana. His second trial began on Monday.

Deputies said they found two hand-made knives, or shanks, hidden in Nichols’ shoe on Wednesday, an indication he may have been plotting his bid for freedom.

That discovery, along with what they described as unusual behavior, worried prosecutors

The deputy, who is being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital and has not yet been questioned, was injured, though Dreher would not say how. Earlier, a doctor at Grady said she was shot through the mouth and was in critical condition.

Apparently armed with the deputy’s gun, Nichols allegedly entered the courtroom and held law enforcement officers there at bay. He then shot Barnes and the clerk, both of whom died in the courtroom, Dreher said.

The suspect ordered bailiffs to handcuff everyone else before running out of the courtroom, located on the eighth floor, and out through a stairwell.

Nichols somehow managed to flee the courthouse, where he ran into another sheriff’s deputy whom he shot and killed, according to multiple descriptions of the events from authorities and witnesses.

Nichols scrambled for an escape vehicle, eventually happening upon O’Briant, the AJC reporter and police said. The AJC reporter said Nichols pistol-whipped him, breaking his wrist and requiring him to get 15 stitches above his eye.

Speaking to reporters after being treated for his injuries, O’Briant said he hoped the reason he hadn’t been shot was because Nichols was out of bullets.

It was not known if Nichols is only carrying the first firearm he stole or if he managed to collect more, Dreher said. Officers at the scene were working to account for all the deputies’ weapons.

“This guy has nothing else to lose — he’s facing life in prison,” said Renee Rockwell, a prosecutor familiar with the case and a witness to the shooting aftermath inside the courthouse.

Commentary:  Oh my God, a big scary Black man is on the loose!  RUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!!!!!  He is on trial for rape also so be careful!

Notice the inequalities in reporting?  Coined by writer & media critic Earl Ofari Hutchinson, the media’s main goal is the “Destruction the Black Male Image”.  Why is it that White killers with substantial more amounts of blood on their hands get painted as brilliant, intelligent, shy, or quiet, while African American killers are simply labeled ghetto, thugs, or products of a broken home?  Don’t forget about rapist!  One doesn’t need a PhD in Family Counseling & Media Studies to understand why citizens react the way they do during mass murders.  It’s unfathomable to believe perfect little White boys from perfect little homes with perfect little parents with perfect little dogs with a perfect little school with perfect little lives can murder twenty children, execute classmates in cafeterias, or blow away Christmas time shoppers.  Instead of the media admitting that “things aren’t all well in Rancho Cucamonga”, they formulate well-construed explanations…excuses would be the better word.  It’s not Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold’s fault they murdered thirteen human beings, its Marylyn Manson’s music & bullies.  Its not James Holmes’ fault he murdered twelve human beings, it’s the movie theater’s lack of an armed guard & his college counselor for not letting the authorities know sooner. It’s not Adam Lanza’s fault for slaughtering twenty-seven human beings, its lax gun laws & Asperger’s Syndrome.  But when it comes to Brian Nichols, no psychological examinations, no family history…he is just a rapist, a sodomizer…a simple drug dealer.  People just can’t accept the fact that products of the American dream can sometimes become defective.

One of my favorite poems I learned while pledging my beloved fraternity Omega Psi Phi was “Excuses”.  It goes as following:
Excuses are tools of the incompetent.
They build monuments of nothingness.
Those who specialize in them seldom accomplish anything.
Therefore I shall have no excuses.

If America wants progress towards safer schools, safer workplaces, safer cities, & safer streets, it must stop making excuses.  More gun laws aren’t the answer because:
A.  Criminals don’t abide by them.
B.  It’s the normal seeming people who are perpetrating these atrocities.
The answer is a thorough examination of the home & American society in general.  After that, anything is fair game.

It doesn’t matter how many cars are in the driveway or spelling bee trophies are on the wall, some children will kill.  America isn’t ready to accept that fact & is investing its money not on the next mass murder prevention, but the previous mass murder explanation.  I expect more mass murders in the near future because of that idiocy & with those mass murders will come mass excuses.  Hence the title, “Mass Murders, Mass Excuses”…

*I advised the reader to turn the television to an episode of “First 48” before reading this article.   Does one remember the treatment & descriptions of the suspect?  Did the police investigators say how brilliant or intelligent the accused killer was? Did the news run any stories on how the suspect behaved at school & why the school board didn’t tip authorities off sooner? Did any of the police investigators ask the suspect’s friends & family what type of video games the suspect played or what kind of music the suspect listened to?   Was the suspect’s Dr. called in to talk about any personality disorders/mental imbalances the suspect might possess? Why not?  Wouldn’t years in a gun infested, drug filled, non-opportunity giving, 3rd world like environment create the very monster they paint the suspect as?  Nope…African American killers get no special treatment…at the end of the day they are, as rapper Big Krit says “just another nigga”…

What’s the Real Fiasco?

“Obama’s president, so? What’s he represent?
Just because the n*gga’s half black don’t mean he’s Heaven-sent.”
-Hopsin

What’s the Real Fiasco?

Lupe Fiasco, a Chicago based conscious/political rapper, has caused quite the stir lately. At a concert event the night before the presidential inauguration, Lupe was kicked off stage after making anti-Obama remarks. Lupe, performing his song “Words I Never Said”, rapped the following:

“If you turn on TV, all you see’s a bunch of what-the-f*cks
Dude is dating so-and-so, blabbering ’bout such & such

And that ain’t Jersey Shore, homie that’s the news
And these the same people supposedly telling us the truth
Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist
Gaza Strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say sh*t

That’s why I ain’t vote for him, next one either
I’ma part of the problem, my problem is I’m peaceful
And I believe in the people”

After the above “rant”, the lights were cut & Lupe was escorted off stage by security guards. Supposedly it wasn’t Lupe’s politics that got him kicked out, it was, according to the event’s organizers StartUP RockON, Lupe’s “bizarrely repetitive, jarring performance that left the crowd vocally dissatisfied”.

One must wonder though…if Lupe did a repetitive, jarring show on b*tches, weed, & shiny rims, would the organizers have reacted the same way? If Lupe did a similar show on say, Romney’s inauguration night, would the black community have reacted the same way? Just questions…

After discussing the incident with friends & coworkers, I kept receiving the same responses:
“Free speech is one thing…disrespecting the president at his inauguration is another.”
“This aint a free speech issue, this is a Black man attacking another Black man issue.”
“It just aint right dissin Obama like that.”

I doubt these same people had any objections when famed & highly respected commercial rapper Kayne West “dissed” Taylor Swift at her 2009 MTV award ceremony saying, “Beyonce is better”. “It just aint right dissin Taylor Swift like that” right?

Oh………….

I doubt these same people had any objection when famed & highly respected political theorist Kanye West “dissed” the previous president when he said, “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.” “It just aint right dissin President Bush like that” right?

Oh………….

One comment about the incident really got to me.
“There is a time & place for everything…& this wasn’t it…”

People, Black people in particular, that kind of attitude goes against everything the civil rights movement stood for.

There is a time & place for everything right? Does one remember Tommie Smith & John Carlos giving the Black Power fist at the 1968 Olympic games during the medal ceremony? The whole world was watching & it garnered massive international attention towards the plight of African Americans. Should they have waited until they got back to the hotel room to salute? Should they have waited until they got back to America at a track to salute? An Olympic medal ceremony is no place to fight for equal rights…

There is a time & place for everything right? Does one remember Dr. Martin Luther King & his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963? The speech, delivered from Washington, DC’s Lincoln Memorial, was given to more than 200,000 people. Was this defining moment in the Civil Rights Movement done at the wrong time & place? Segregation & economic inequality is a Southern institution…should he have given the speech at Ole Miss? Should Dr. King have waited & delivered the speech in front of a Woolworths or some random Black church? Washington, DC is no place to fight for equal rights…

I’m not comparing Lupe Fiasco’s “40-minute rant” to an act of international protest or speech writing genius, but there are some similarities. All the above acts were deemed “not the right place or the right time”, “inappropriate”, or “counterproductive”. There is nothing “inappropriate” about two athletes who can run around a track for America but not eat in one of her diners using a platform to voice opposition. There is nothing “counterproductive” about a civil rights leader marching to the capital of the United States to demand civil rights…constitutionally guaranteed civil rights. There is nothing “not the right place or the right time” about an activist/artist bringing attention to human rights abuses the president is committing at a place where the president is located.

I believe people have the right to speak their mind where they want, when they want, & how they want. Free speech is an essential part of a free & open Democratic society. In my opinion, Lupe did what he thought was right, using a large platform to voice his opinion about issues he deems very pertinent. One does not have to agree with his message, but one must agree that he has every right to express it. After all, this is America right…right?

In closing, I want to ask the reader one final question & that ties into the title:

What’s the real fiasco?

Is the real fiasco Gaza Strip getting bombed & Obama not saying sh*t, or is it Lupe Fiasco telling the world on Obama’s inauguration night “Gaza Strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say sh*t”…?

I’ve made my choice…what’s yours?

Hitler Using The Torah

Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, inwardly they are ravening wolves.

-Mathew 7:15

Hitler Using The Torah

President Obama using Dr. Martin Luther King’s Bible on inauguration day is both a travesty & a disgrace to the Civil Rights movement & the cause of freedom in the world.  Its comparable to Israel using the Koran on their election day or Adolf Hitler using the Torah at his reading in ceremony…an oppressor using the spiritual book of the oppressed as his “shining light of direction” is just sickening.

Any sane person can tell you President Obama is not a proponent of nonviolence & peace, but of violence & destruction.  Obama is not for income equality, but for wealth concentration.  Be honest, the man’s middle names are crony capitalism & drone.  While sitting in a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. King wrote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. That quote can still be put in use today.

Injustice in Afghanistan is a threat to justice everywhere.

Injustice in Pakistan is a threat to justice everywhere.

Injustice in Yemen is a threat to justice everywhere.

Injustice in Somalia is a threat to justice everywhere.

Injustice in Libya is a threat to justice everywhere.

Injustice in Guantanamo Bay is a threat to justice everywhere.

Fools tend to think events in the past are just that…events in the past, but wise people say, “history always repeats itself”.  Dr. King spoke about Vietnam forty-five years ago but, as with most prolific activists, writers, & orators, his words can still be applied to the current world scene. The following quotes are from Dr. King’s speech “Beyond Vietnam”.  These quotes explain the degradation of society because of war.  While reading, substitute the word Vietnam for the Middle East, Communist for Muslim, & Napalm/Bombs for Drones.

“Beyond Vietnam”

A time comes when silence is betrayal.  That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.

“Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent?” “Peace & civil rights don’t mix,” they say. “Aren’t you hurting the cause of your people?” they ask. When I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment, or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.

My third reason moves to an even deeper level of awareness, for it grows out of my experience in the ghettos of the North over the last three years, especially the last three summers. As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, & angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails & rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they asked, & rightly so, “What about Vietnam?” They asked if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, & I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.

Now it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity & life of America today can ignore the present war. If America’s soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read “Vietnam.”

I would yet have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ. To me, the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war. Could it be that they do not know that the Good News was meant for all men — for communist & capitalist, for their children & ours, for black & for white, for revolutionary & conservative? Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the one who loved his enemies so fully that he died for them? What then can I say to the Vietcong or to Castro or to Mao as a faithful minister of this one? Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life?

Finally, as I try to explain for you & for myself the road that leads from Montgomery to this place, I would have offered all that was most valid if I simply said that I must be true to my conviction that I share with all men the calling to be a son of the living God. Beyond the calling of race or nation or creed is this vocation of sonship & brotherhood. Because I believe that the Father is deeply concerned, especially for His suffering & helpless & outcast children, I come tonight to speak for them. This I believe to be the privilege & the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances & loyalties which are broader & deeper than nationalism & which go beyond our nation’s self-defined goals & positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation, for those it calls “enemy,” for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers.

And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam & search within myself for ways to understand & respond in compassion, my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the ideologies of the Liberation Front, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three continuous decades now. I think of them, too, because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them & hear their broken cries.

They must see Americans as strange liberators.

They know they must move on or be destroyed by our bombs.

So they go, primarily women & children & the aged. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. They wander into the hospitals with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. So far we may have killed a million of them, mostly children. They wander into the towns & see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. They see the children degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers.

What do the peasants think as we ally ourselves with the landlords & as we refuse to put any action into our many words concerning land reform? What do they think as we test out our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested out new medicine & new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe? Where are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building? Is it among these voiceless ones?

We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family & the village. We have destroyed their land & their crops. We have cooperated in the crushing of the nation’s only noncommunist revolutionary political force, the unified Buddhist Church. We have supported the enemies of the peasants of Saigon. We have corrupted their women & children & killed their men.

Now there is little left to build on, save bitterness. Soon the only solid physical foundations remaining will be found at our military bases & in the concrete of the concentration camps we call “fortified hamlets.” The peasants may well wonder if we plan to build our new Vietnam on such grounds as these. Could we blame them for such thoughts? We must speak for them & raise the questions they cannot raise. These, too, are our brothers.

How can they trust us when now we charge them with violence after the murderous reign of Diem & charge them with violence while we pour every new weapon of death into their land? Surely we must understand their feelings, even if we do not condone their actions. Surely we must see that the men we supported pressed them to their violence. Surely we must see that our own computerized plans of destruction simply dwarf their greatest acts.

Here is the true meaning & value of compassion & nonviolence, when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, & if we are mature, we may learn & grow & profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.

He (Ho Chi Mein) knows the bombing & shelling & mining we are doing are part of traditional pre-invasion strategy. Perhaps only his sense of humor & of irony can save him when he hears the most powerful nation of the world speaking of aggression as it drops thousands of bombs on a poor, weak nation more than eight hundred, or rather, eight thousand miles away from its shores

This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. Recently one of them wrote these words, & I quote:

Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the hearts of the Vietnamese & in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological & political defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, & democracy, but the image of violence & militarism.

If we continue, there will be no doubt in my mind & in the mind of the world that we have no honorable intentions in Vietnam. If we do not stop our war against the people of Vietnam immediately, the world will be left with no other alternative than to see this as some horrible, clumsy, & deadly game we have decided to play. The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. It demands that we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam, that we have been detrimental to the life of the Vietnamese people. The situation is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways. In order to atone for our sins & errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war.

I would like to suggest five concrete things that our government should do immediately to begin the long & difficult process of extricating ourselves from this nightmarish conflict:

• Number one: End all bombing in North & South Vietnam.
• Number two: Declare a unilateral cease-fire in the hope that such action will create the atmosphere for negotiation.
• Three: Take immediate steps to prevent other battlegrounds in Southeast Asia by curtailing our military buildup in Thailand & our interference in Laos.
• Four: Realistically accept the fact that the National Liberation Front has substantial support in South Vietnam & must thereby play a role in any meaningful negotiations & any future Vietnam government.
• Five: Set a date that we will remove all foreign troops from Vietnam in accordance with the 1954 Geneva Agreement.

Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.

The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, & if we ignore this sobering reality [applause], & if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing “clergy & laymen concerned” committees for the next generation. They will be concerned about Guatemala & Peru. They will be concerned about Thailand & Cambodia. They will be concerned about Mozambique & South Africa. We will be marching for these & a dozen other names & attending rallies without end unless there is a significant & profound change in American life & policy.

In 1957 a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. During the past ten years we have seen emerge a pattern of suppression which has now justified the presence of U.S. military advisors in Venezuela. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counterrevolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Cambodia & why American napalm & Green Beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru.

Five years ago he (Kennedy) said, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” [applause] Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges & the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments

We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines & computers, profit motives & property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, & militarism are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order & say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans & widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark & bloody battlefields physically handicapped & psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, & love

These are days, which demand wise restraint & calm reasonableness. We must not engage in a negative anticommunism, but rather in a positive thrust for democracy [applause], realizing that our greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice. We must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity, & injustice, which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows & develops.

These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation & oppression, & out of the wounds of a frail world, new systems of justice & equality are being born. The shirtless & barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. We in the West must support these revolutions.

It is a sad fact that because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, & our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch antirevolutionaries.

We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations & individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate.

We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation.

…

It’s right to say that Dr. King would not have voted for Obama.  Dr. King is speaking the way a “Liberal” used to.  I can’t see in any instance where Dr. King would agree with indefinite detention for Muslims as well as Americans, torture, or predator drone strikes that primarily kill women and children.  Remember though, people continually try to paint Dr. King & Obama as “one in the same” though…

Obama is not a proponent of the poor, but a puppet for the wealthy elite.  Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee while showing support to the African American sanitation workers strike.  Dr. King started the Poor People’s Campaign in hopes to end the oldest form of legal discrimination, one in which continually bars people from the hope of obtaining the American dream; Poverty.   Unemployment under Obama has been around 7%…for White Americans.  For Black Americans, double that.  That’s right, unemployment for Black Americans has been hovering around 14%.  On September 6^th, 2012, Obama issued his party nomination for president acceptance speech at Bank of America Stadium.  Bank of America Stadium.  Oh the Irony.  I’m not saying Obama has the power to uplift the poor or bail people out of poverty, but he surely did it for a select few Detroit businesses. The following quotes are from Dr. King’s speech “Beyond Vietnam”.  These quotes explain how wars are ultimately wars on the poor.  Substitute Vietnam for War on Terror.

“Beyond Vietnam”

There is at the outset a very obvious & almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam & the struggle I & others have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor, both black & white, through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, & I watched this program broken & eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war. & I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men & skills & money like some demonic, destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor & to attack it as such.

Perhaps a more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending their sons & their brothers & their husbands to fight & to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society & sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia & East Harlem. So we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro & white boys on TV screens as they kill & die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools. So we watch them in brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would hardly live on the same block in Chicago. I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor.

I am as deeply concerned about our own troops there as anything else. For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other & seek to destroy. We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved. Before long they must know that their government has sent them into a struggle among Vietnamese, & the more sophisticated surely realize that we are on the side of the wealthy, & the secure, while we create a hell for the poor

I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, & dealt death & corruption in Vietnam.

A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty & wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas & see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, & South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, & say, “This is not just.” It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America & say, “This is not just.” The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others & nothing to learn from them is not just.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

…

For every dollar spent in the Middle East, no dollar is being spent on education, poverty reduction, jobs, & climate change research.  Dr. King is 100% right on the double war poor people fight.  As Mumia Abu Jamal said, “the War on Terror” is a war on us all”.  Dr. King would not have been satisfied with Obama’s stance on the poor.  Wars are started by the rich but financed & fought by the poor.

Do you finally see that despite the spin, Dr. King & Obama only share each others color but not a fragment of each others character?  I think if Dr. King were still alive, he would boycott Obama using his Bible because of the bloodstains he would leave from innocent Muslim children.  People…Black people & Liberals in particular, its time to cast away the veil of ignorance & accept the fact that the “knight in shining brown skin” is more about nope & shame than he is hope & change.  “Until justice rolls down like water & righteousness like a mighty stream”, Obama is ultimately moving civil rights & world peace backward, not forward.  I will end this article with a quote from the famed academic & author Carter G. Woodson. “When you control a man’s thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions”.  With continual pictures of Obama & Dr. King together, famous people propagating a politician for a civil rights activist, the media has brainwashed the people to believe that they are both one & the same.  No matter what Obama does, people will feel it is for the betterment of society…the uplifting of humanity.  So when Obama signs law after law, starts conflict after conflict, doing the complete opposite of what Dr. King would advise, he doesn’t have to worry about the people’s actions of distrust, for he controls their thinking…

Don’t trust a White Neoconservative wolf in Brown Liberal sheep clothing…