"You Want The Chicken!" - Dave Chappelle

For the record, I don't think foreigners are any more racist than some White Americans have been in the past in the United States, or more racist than some are now. BUT, I think they are more open about it, which is good because in America it's now (somewhat) discreet and effects other facets of our life that aren't so obvious. Such as, institutional racism (i.e. economical, political, social). At least when it's out in the open (via the media) we can do a better job of correcting it and attacking it directly. Thoughts?

"Racism Still Alive, They Just Be Concealing it" - K.West

This woman was arrested for cutting a line at Wal-Mart and allegedly assaulting a police officer. She faces up to 15 years...yep...15 years. She was then handed a KKK card by a police officer that said "the next visit won't be social." I don't know what to say expect, it was nice of him to issue a warning. Quite professional I might add...

You can read more about [HERE]

Moving along...a interracial couple in Louisiana is denied a marriage license by the 'justice of peace' because of the fear that they will have biracial children. Yep...gotta keep that blood pure don't you? Gotta love how the 'justice of PEACE' denied it (and has done so about 4 times prior). You have to love the irony in that! Don't be alarmed though, he's not racist; he has black friends as he states. Kudos to him...

You can read about that [HERE]

Man Has Gun at Obama Rally, Police Let Him Stay

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This is completely absurd. There is not a doubt in my mind as a young black man in America that if I attended a Bush rally with a fully loaded gun, I would be thrown to the grown, beaten, tasered, etc, etc. Police don't have the best relationship with blacks, and the evidence is shown historically and even in the present day.

Even though it's legal to have a licensed gun displayed in New Hampshire, there is no reason why it should be allowed while in the presence of a president/political figure, especially the nations first Black president; a man who receives death threats on a regular basis simply because there are some people who still can't seem to grasp the fact that a Black man holds the nations highest office. Chris Matthews called out this ignorant man and I commend him for that. You can read more on this issue on AOL Black Voices [HERE].

A Typical Day in America: Violence & Racism

Just a few disheartening news headlines I came across this morning. Again, I'm from Chicago, so more times than not, by news headlines will focus on things occurring in or around the city.

Chicago teen charged in "brutal slaying" of another teen:

The Southwest Side suspect confessed to dragging Alex into an alley and beating him in the head with a brick, police said. But the suspect said he did not shoot or burn the boy.

Three other people have been charged in connection with the death.

Officials have said Alex was walking with three girls to a friend's house in the 3000 block of West 54th Place when he was twice confronted by neighborhood gang members. The first group was on bikes and second rode in a Ford Mustang.

The gang members asked him "what he was about" and demanded he "throw up a crown" in support of the Latin Kings street gang, prosecutors have said.

But Alex resisted. He allegedly told the group he was about "nothing" and even lifted his shirt to prove he had no gang tattoos, authorities said.

Read the rest here...

Teen shot in neck while watching motorist argue:

A 15-year-old boy was hospitalized after suffering a gunshot wound that went through his back and lodged near his neck after an apparent road rage incident Wednesday night in the South Side’s Englewood neighborhood.

The boy was standing outside watching two motorists argue after they were involved in a “minor fender-bender” at 10:20 p.m. in the 6800 block of South Throop Street, police said.


Both drivers got out and started fighting with each other and one produced a gun and started shooting into the street -- not coming anywhere close to the motorist, but striking the boy in the back, according to police, who said the boy does not know the motorists.

Read the rest here...

Two female firefighters from Houston are victims of racism & sexism:

Just one day after discovering racist and sexist remarks drawn on the wall of Station 54, the two firefighters at the center of this scandal are breaking their silence.

"It's demented. Somebody is sick," said Houston Firefighter Jane Draycott.
Keys and Draycott claim the harassment has been going on for months; acts so low, they say, as defacing photographs of their family, even a deceased daughter.
"They wrote 'dead' on her face and they wrote 'die' on my face," said Draycott.
The women's attorney told us about the harassment he claims they endured during the months leading up to Tuesday's incident.

Attorney Joseph Amad said, "Ranging from turning the cold water off in the shower so they got scalded, from having firecrackers to go off when they opened the bathroom stall to taking the mattresses away from their beds."

Read the rest here...

In addition to this story, a captain at the same fire department, Keith Smith, reportedly kept a nooses in his locker. He later issued an apology claiming to have kept them there as a reminder of his training days and had no idea what they symbolized. Davey D (who I stole this article from, haha) made a good point in stating that the fact that Jena, La is only 6 hours away from Houston, so that makes it hard to believe he wasn't aware of that news story (which centered around the hanging of nooses). The coverage on the Jena 6 story (which was only 2 years ago) was constantly flooding the airwaves and newspapers, so unless he was living under a rock, he should have been notified of its symbolism then. Besides, who just keeps nooses around?!

Instances like this make you realize that although African Americans have played a large role in shaping American history their history is often overlooked. Although, I'm confident he knows what a noose symbolizes, the sad part is, a lot of people really don't know, whether young or old or black or white. Education regarding minority groups in the school system is certainly lacking, and this case is just further proof.

Good Hair (Trailer)

I can't wait to see this! I commend Chris Rock, my favorite comedian, for doing this documentary. This is truly a pet peeve of mind, because the very ideology of "good hair" has been ingrained in our minds through hundreds of years of conditioning by way of slavery, and the repercussions are still present today. It has caused self-hatred amongst many in the black community who feel they have to live up to many Euro-centric standards that center around having a slender nose, blond straight hair, and blue eyes. Historically speaking, slaves with lighter skin (aka house slaves) were usually given more privileges because of their likeness to whites. Today, many would rather go through unnatural processes to alter their appearance (hair relaxing, plastic surgery) than to deal with their natural features. Although I've never been, I seriously doubt that Africans straighten their hair (or feel the need to partake in any of these processes that may alter their appearance) for these reasons, or if they do it at all. So, I always wonder, are African American women doing this because they want to, or because they feel they have to...

The medias influence, as well as a lack of African American representation in the media, play a large role in shaping these conflicted mind states as well. Let's not get it confused though, although I believe women have it harder as they are expected to have certain body shapes and sizes, men contribute to this as well, as many of us would seem to be infatuated, solely with women who have Euro-centric features. Furthermore, how many jobs would even hire black women (or men) if they wore their hair natural? So, we not only put pressure on ourselves, but it is reciprocated back throughout society. Things like this leave me feeling very conflicted...

"Big Ben vs. Kobe? Does Race Matter?"

I follow Dr. Boyce Watkin's column pretty regularly so I was glad to see he touched on this topic. This essentially touches on whether or not the media treats athletes, that may have had similiar allegations, differently based on the color of the their skin. I could certaintly write an article on this myself, but I'm glad Dr. Watkins took the liberty to do it. There is no doubt in my mind that the media (particularly ESPN)picks and chooses who they want to cover more, and more times than not, their (negative) media coverage centers on the cases of black athletes. When the accusations of rape first came out against Kobe, a nation that formely labeled him "the next Jordan" was quick to push him under the bus, despite the fact that "all men are innocent until proven guilty." When the accusations came out against Ben Roethlisberger, it took ESPN about two days to mention it, and when they did and it was a small news bit and hardly ever discussed again. They didn't mention the fact that this might ruin his reputation (maybe because they have the power to do so by increasing their coverage on him, because, ESPN really is the ONLY option for sports coverage nowadays). I'm convinced that ESPN and other media outlets wanted to protect Ben Roethlisberger. The evidence of that may be that many of you don't know that much about the case OR the fact that you know a brunt of your information about it because you read it online, or were informed of it on twitter (like myself). Well, enough of my rambling, here is what Dr. Watkin's had to say:

In a civil lawsuit, Andrea McNulty accuses "Big Ben" of engaging in some disturbing activities. She claims that Ben forced himself on her sexually when she went into his hotel room to check on a broken television set. All of this allegedly took place in Vegas and of course Ben is denying it. I am not sure if he did it or not, since I've never wanted to know much about Ben Roethlisberger's sex life.

Ben's situation is similar to the disturbing allegations made against NBA star Kobe Bryant in the summer of 2003. Kobe's case was not much different from Ben's, in which Kobe was also accused of doing some pretty unacceptable things.

Both cases have their shaky points. For Kobe, there was the evidence that the alleged victim spent a lot of "quality time" (sexually) with other men during the same week she was allegedly raped by Mr. Bryant. This doesn't mean that she couldn't have been raped, but it certainly hurt her case in the eyes of the American public. In Ben's situation, the woman waited nearly a year to file a civil suit against him. Not a criminal suit; a civil one. Whether she was raped or not, she has decided that she definitely wants to get paid.

Again, wanting to get paid doesn't imply that you can't be raped, but similar to Kobe's accuser, Andrea McNulty's request for cash has weakened her case in the eyes of those trying to sort out the facts. Fortunately, the public doesn't decide rape cases, since there is enough bias in favor of high profile athletes. Simultaneously, there are many people in the world wishing to take advantage of athletes, as false rape charges are all too common.

What is also interesting about these two seemingly similar situations, is that while Kobe's case was all over the news for several days in a row, the world has heard barely a peep about the case of Ben Roethlisberger. Sure, I've seen it mentioned in the news here and there, but there hasn't been the sort of brain-drain hyperanalysis which took place during the Kobe Bryant fiasco or in the case of Michael Vick. Why would that be?

Read the rest HERE.

Henry Louis Gates Discussion on Larry King

Larry King gathers up Michael Eric Dyson, Judge Joe Brown, Larry Elder and Ben Stein to discuss the recent controversy involving Gates and the Cambridge police department. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that Larry Elder was the same dude that was the judge on one of my favorite shows (Moral Court). I NEVER agree with him when I hear him giving his opinion on things of this magnitude. I tend to agree more with Dyson and Joe Brown on this matter, as I believe I have been racially profiled as well several times by police officers, both black and white.

In this situation, I think both parties overreacted a tad, so in that instance I also agree with Ben Stein. Because, the officer was shown proof of Gate's residency, so at that point, the issue should have been concluded. However, I don't believe Gates should brought up race as an issue (at the moment). In those instances where I felt profiled, I did not bring that up in the heat of the moment, because I felt it would only make the situation worse, and besides, the officer is the one with the gun. BUT, the officer did resist giving Gates his badge number, and citizens have a right to ask for that. Overall, I don't think the officer was racist, nor do I believe what he did was ignited by racism. I think it may have been a case where Gates, a world renown professor knew he didn't do anything wrong so he may have talked back in a way that the officer didn't agree with (aka, he spoke his mind, or maybe the officer felt he was speaking down to him, being he is a Harvard professor). Thus, the officer felt compelled to hold his ground, and he may have let his pride get in the way of things. Obama called the two gentlemen to the White House to discuss this matter and I think that was a good to settle the controversy (on a personal level), because issues like this happen everyday and more times than not, the officer does seem to be a white male who is acting off of racist impulses. In my opinion, it is essential that officers understand where blacks are coming from on this issue and it's also important for blacks to comply with officers, unless of course they become blatantly ignorant or violent. You have to earn respect in this world, and it seems that neither party had respect for the other in this situation...

While the officer in the Gates case may have not been racist, another officer on his team certainly is. I'm sorry, he's not racist, what he DID/SAID was racist. I'll never forget that JSmooth vlog. SMH @ this fool below...