Sunday, March 25, 2012

The Trayvon Martin Case is just a another hint to Black folks about the need for Black Solidarity/Unity.

March 25, 2012



I read a caption on the internet this week that went like this, “Trayvon Martin Death Galvanizing a Nation.” My first thought or question to myself was, “What nation?” Of course, the assumption was this country. Maybe I have been missing it in the news, but has anyone heard a white, Hispanic, Jewish, Asian or even a homosexual national or local radio talk show host besides black radio talk show hosts such as Steve Harvey, Rickey Smiley, Tom Joiner, and Michael Baisden get on the air and declare justice be done in this Trayvon Martin case? I know about all of the news media outlets covering the story because it’s in the headlines. However, where are the young white college kids across America? Where is LULAC)? (League of United Latin American Citizen) Where is AACR (Asian American Civil Rights Movement) Where are the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Defense League, Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy, the national LGBT organizations, and the various women’s’ leagues/organizations in this country? Meaning, where is all of America and not just Black America in this cause?


Personally, I think the ‘hoodie movement’ is stupid. Don’t you ever get tired of symbolism instead of justice? When the young gay man jumped off the George Washington Bridge for being ‘outted’ by his college roommate via webcam at Rutgers University two years ago, justice was swift. A cyber bullying movement took place, laws have been inacted and gays are now protected. What in hell will wearing a hooded sweatshirt do spark protection for Black males against rogue killers like Zimmerman, the public school system in this country, the criminal justice system in this country, the national hate for black boys, and growing hate for black men by black women? The solution is not a damn hoodie movement! It is black solidarity! As long as blacks continue to lack racial unity, the killing of Black people by whites/ and coconut Hispanics and the killing of black people by other black people will CONTINUE.


This little movement is cute. But comes nowhere close to what really needs to happen. Of course, RACISM is at the root of this crime. However, in my opinion, black disunity is the bigger crime here. By the way. It is more than ok for blacks to unite for the purpose of nurturing, educating, marrying, and loving their own. This cultural norm and strategy has served as an excellent political and economic power base for whites, white Jews, ethnic Jews, Hispanics, Asians, Italians, and every other racial/ethnic group in this country. Hell, even the gay community has solidarity and is making things happen. But this has yet to happen with black people.


Maybe one day we will stop all of this damn marching and actually “get on the move” to really honor the life of Trayvon Martin as well as the millions of black lives lost because of racism/white supremacy with actual black solidarity and much needed black love. Now, before anybody reading this post gets nervous at the thought of black unity. Let me say this. A lot of white people and many blacks who have chosen interracial dating, marrying, and creating children with whites as a psychological strategy in order to survive under racism/white supremacy (in other words "if you can't be em', join em") that may be reading this post will certainly interpret my words as to mean to hate white people, therefore, conjuring up white insecurity and negro fear and anxiety. This fear and anxiety will then cause them to lash out at me. I will then be labeled a race divider and THE sole person who is preventing the races from coming together as if George Washington and the rest of the slave owning fondling faggots of this country, Slave Codes, Jim CROW, J. Edgar Hoover, Bull Connor, Ronald Reagan, the KKK, and the Skin heads never existed. LOL! You know. The usual response when a strong, unafraid, intelligent black man truly speaks his mind about the reality we currently live in. Hey. I am just saying. Look. To hate Caucasians in 2012 is a waste of time and energy.


History has already proven and continues to prove to this day that any hatred towards white by a people of color is more than well deserved. But that energy can best be used to do something more constructive like finally beginning to learn from other races and cultures of color and what they did with all of their “hate energy” for white people. We (Black folks) should learn how they have historically dealt with and currently deal with white hate and white supremacy. It’s simple. They built a nation within a nation and became self-sustaining. WE HAVE YET TO DO THIS!

So, until this solidarity amongst OUR people takes place, we can look for many more Trayvon Martins, Emmitt Tills, and this continued genocide/assassination of black males in this country. Rest In Peace, little brotha, I wish we can do more in your death, but we are too afraid. Marching and begging Caesar for justice is all we are willing to do. We are still settling for crumbs instead of baking our own loaf of bread.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Cyber-Bullying? Yeah, Right?

I don’t know if you any of you have been keeping up with this case or not, but the headlines to the end of this case really disturbed me. You see. This bullying campaign that has been going on for a while now has gotten me somewhat perplexed and annoyed at the same time, if that’s even possible. I read the story about the 18 year old young man who attended Rutgers University that ended his life in 2010 by jumping off of the George Washington Bridge in New York and into the Hudson Rivers because he was exposed as being gay by his roommate who spied on him through a webcam in their dorm room kissing another man.

Here is a piece of the story that was reported by the Associated on Friday the 16th. “A New Jersey jury on Friday found former Rutgers freshman Dharun Ravi guilty of hate crime and invasion of privacy for using a webcam to spy on his college roommate kissing another man. Three days after the incident, the roommate jumped to his death. Ravi will be sentenced on May 21. He faces up to 10 years in jail and possible deportation back to India, where the 20-year-old was born before moving to the U.S. as a young boy, the Associated Press reports.”

A hate crime? Are you serious? Sentenced up to 10 years in jail? Are you serious? Deportation? Are you serious? This all reeks of a gay and homosexual political agenda at play. I am so sick of the whining. First of all, if Ravi is guilty of anything (in my opinion) it is playing too damn much. He is not at fault for a coward who took his own life because he was ASHAMED of what he was, which is a homosexual. The young man who killed himself because he was exposed for being gay is at fault for killing himself, not the young man, Ravi. The young gay man was obviously in the closet and the door just pulled open before he was ready to “come out” to the world. Hell, I hear so many gay people say that “coming out” is so liberating and such a weight lifted off of them when they either “come out” on their own or are “outed” by someone else, so what was this young man’s deal? I guess this young man wanted to stay in the closet a little while longer and just sneak around with his sexual preference.


I don’t think that this was a case of cyber bullying at all. I think it was a case of whatever was being done in the dark coming to the light. I think that this young man was following the script of so many other so-called proud gays. They hide in the closet until they reach a certain economic or social status in this country and then come out of the closet. Some examples being Rosie O’Donnell, Ellen, Latino singer Ricky Martin, and Wanda Sykes. I think that this whole cyber bullying campaign is a farce and is being used a front and a societal bully pull-pit for political and economic gains by the LGBT community and everyone who wants to get in on the massive cyber-bullying funding for their non-profit organization. It looks like almost every non-profit organization has some useless program to supposedly stop cyber bullying as the flagship of their particular organization’s list of social programs aimed at making society a better place. Baloney! I am not condoning the Ravi’s behavior in anyway, but Ray Charles can see that this whole sentencing situation is some bullcrap.


I think that the “Stop the bullying at school” and the “End Cyber bullying” campaigns have nothing to do with Black children, Latino children, and poor white children living in the ghettos of America. These campaigns, in my opinion, are for whites in suburbia and the LGBT community. When was the last time you heard a gay male being bullied at a “hood’ public school”? How about at a Historically Black College/University? When was the last time you read where a Black student went to his black high school or onto his Black college campus and shot up everybody? When was the last time you read or heard when the same media that’s giving coverage to this story, the national or local LGBT organization (s) and white suburbia gave a damn about anything that goes on the in the ghetto public schools of America?


I simply refuse to get on this emotionally driven bandwagon. I refuse to close my eyes to what is just so clear to me. Cyber-bullying can be handled the same way you handle someone who puts their hands on you at school. You stand up for yourself! If the bully at school is too big, you pick up a brick, stick, or bottle, lay his/her azz out, and then call relatives and friends to get involved. Next, for so-called cyber-bullying…you do the same thing. You video record the azz-whoopin’ you are giving him/her putting your business on blast without your permission. Then, you post that very azz-whoopin’ you gave him or her on face book, Twitter, and You Tube. Case closed!
In closing, parents stop feeding your child this non-sense (although very true) about the bully having low self-esteem and them hating themselves, which is why they lash out at others. Look. You are setting your child up to get his/her azz kicked. Teach them how to fight back, not be a therapist to a bully. Let a licensed therapist help them with their issue so your child want develop issues from getting their azz kicked at school or in life in general.

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Stomp Wars Youth Steppin’ Competition 2012 in Dallas was Steppendous!

Stomp Wars Youth Steppin’ Competition 2012 in Dallas was Step-pendous!


Yes. I really enjoy being in the audience of my very first stomp wars youth competition last night. I enjoyed being around our youth in a fun-filled, energetic, positive atmosphere. It is not very often that the media portrays black youth in a positive light. Of course, I am not one who has ever allowed this American media to dictate me to what’s up with our youth. Anyway, the evening started off at a little after 5pm with a panel discussion on bullying, family values, the importance of education and the importance on being a leader. Let’s see. A 40 year old marine spoke about the importance of being a leader from a marine’s perspective. He was pretty cool. Very straight laced and stiff in his presentation, but the information was valuable. I think that the more than a thousand young people in attendance gained a lot from what he had to say.



The mayor of Dallas, an old white guy by the name of Mike Rawlins, spoke on family values. I know, right? LOL! I am still chuckling over that one. Ok, next your very own, crowned, Miss Texas spoke on bullying. She shared a couple of sad stories about two kids (obviously white) who committed suicide because of supposedly being bullied at school. There was a fourth person on the panel who was supposed to get up speak and on education and how one can make money the right way by way of getting a college education, which she did eventually after Miss Texas finally got off her bully pull-pit with her stories of how she met President Obama and how she plans to take her fight to congress to end bullying. Yes. She went on and on and on and on and on…….Well, you get the picture. I was just waiting for her tell the judges, I mean the youth in attendance just how if crowned Miss Bully America, she would bring about world peace. LOL! Man, it was torture.



During the question and answer period I told her and the audience what I thought about her bully proposal. I simple said. “I don’t get it.” “I grew up in the hood.” “There were gay students in our ‘hood’ schools, but I can’t recall any of them running home scared or committing suicide because they were made fun of because they were gay.” “The gay kids in my school, stood up for themselves.” You only made fun of them one time. That was it. “We all had to stand up to our bully if we had one.” “When I had a bully, I had a brother, cousins, sisters, a mother and friends to help handle that.” “We never had a long time bully.” “We took care of the bully right then and there!” As I was speaking, I could hear coming from the audience filled with youth and parents who currently live in the hoods of Dallas and Fort Worth, “That’s right!” “You said that!” “Me either!” “Uhh-Huhh,” which was quickly followed by a round of applause. I ended my comments by saying to Miss Texas, “I think your proposal is precious, but what’s up with the parenting these days?”


So, now the on to the competition. At 6:30pm the show got on the road. First, let me say this. It is true that I have not been a huge fan or admirer of so-called Black Greek lettered organizations in the past and for very good reasons. That is another totally different blog. However, I still feel the very same way about these organizations today. I knew back then that the steppin’ had nothing to do with Greekdom. It is all Afrikan baby! The rhythms, the calculated movements, the timing and the soul came from a great people. This is how I was able to even attend and enjoy the Greek show performances back then. I knew I was not witnessing Greeks on stage. I was witnessing Afrikan greatness on stage. Last night, I witnessed the same Afrikan greatness. Sadly, many of those high school kids on stage will go off to college to pledge a Black Greek organization, to feel some semblance of their greatness when all they will have to do is read their history and learn that their greatness comes in a much larger portion than just a semblance.

Now, on to the stepping completion. The first all male act set the stage to what would become a night of action-packed stepping routines that were worthy of being compared to some of the great step-shows that I had the pleasure of witnessing while a student at Grambling State University back in the day. I could see the Alphas of 91’ 92’ and 93’ up there on stage. These young people had the very precision, style and the discipline of a college level step squad. I could see the 92’ and 93’ AKAs up there as well as the 92’ Zetas. These kids did there thing. I remember standing up to applaud and cheer for two of the acts that I thought were just awesome. I genuinely enjoyed seeing our young peoples’ stars shine so brightly last night. However, there were some unusual things that I did notice in the performances last night which was a common theme. First, there was the over dramatization used the speaking parts that each group did during their performances. The extra yelling and the wild jerking of head and shoulders as they would speak their lines kind of threw me for a loop. I don’t recall this drama being a part of a step routine back in college. Hey, maybe it’s the new thing in youth steppin’.


The second thing I noticed was the appearance of a requirement to have some length of hair. I mean even some of the boys had hair (hot iron pressed or locs) to thrust back and forth, which I guess was to add more accent to the movements on stage. Uhh, ok. I guess I can go along with that. While I am at it, I may as well add a third thing I noticed in the performances. There were quite a few, shall I say, ‘soft’ young brothaz on stage. They were good. They were entertaining. However, the impact of fatherlessness on single female headed households just kept going through my mind as I was sitting there checking out many of the performances. Anyway, I guess that’s neither here nor there. Wait. I heard boys in the audience yell up at the stage to other boys and girls who were performing, “You betta work!” I even heard a father who sat behind me say, “You better work, son!” Damn! It is like that now!? Can, presumably heterosexual boys and straight men can say, “You betta work!” to other boys and men? WOW!


Now, this is the action that was on stage. Look, if you ever want to hear some of the funniest comments from an audience or learn any new dances that are out among the youth today, last night at the step competition was the place to be. A deejay from one of the popular hip-hop stations here in Dallas was the music MC for the night. I got my ‘Dougie’ on. I did the south Dallas swag, and bobbed my head as I witnessed the many youngsters in the venue wrecking the place with dance moves that peeps over 40 (like me) should only just bob their heads in amusement. My knees or my back could not handle the very rapid, intense and fierce body movements that those kids displayed as the deejay played the best of their favorite songs between each step act. The music MC did pay tribute to us older heads in the audience with a few hits from back in the day from Frankie Beverly and Maze, BBD, and Doug E. Fresh just name a few.


I left the event feeling pretty good. I felt energized. I felt good about “the cause” even more so than usual. I left the event realizing that since moving to Dallas a little over three years ago, I have not been involved in any youth oriented causes. All I have done is chase a dollar during the week and a few skirts on the weekends since I have been here. When I lived in Memphis, I was always involved with the youth in my community because I knew the need and I saw the need every day. Last night helped me to realize that I can chase a dollar, chase a few skirts, and work with the youth here in Dallas, my new home. I know there is a need. I have seen the need. Now it is time to go where I am needed.


Many thanks to the Rock T. Youth Foundation, Rock T. and the supporters of such a wonderful cause for such an amazing event. I have been inspired to get involved right here in Dallas.

For information on the Rock T. Youth Foundation and Stomp Wars go to..

http://www.stompwars.com/